The previous stage of Central Asian cooperation has become a breakthrough in the overall process of regional construction
The Consultative Meeting of the Heads of Central Asian States, held on September 14 in Dushanbe, had literal historical and political significance.
It completed the full cycle of Central Asian summits began in 2018 at the initiative of Uzbekistan's President Shavkat Mirziyoyev and endorsed by the leaders of all countries in the area. The Dushanbe summit was held in an atmosphere of open and trusting communication, as well as a productive exchange of ideas. The leaders of Central Asian states evaluated the outcomes of past Consultative meetings and emphasized their unwavering commitment to continuing collaborative efforts toward the gradual building of a sustainable regional cooperation architecture.
The main conclusion of the five-sided meeting is that the process of regional rapprochement has reached a qualitatively new phase of integrational development, as evidenced by the greater willingness of the region's states to formalize and institutionalize multidimensional interaction, making it systematic and continuous.
The leaders of Central Asian states stated that it is in their best interests to continue to strengthen interstate cooperation, good neighborliness, and mutual trust in Central Asia.
The decision to form a Council of National Coordinators for the Consultative Meeting of the Heads of Central Asian States, aimed at increasing the effectiveness of interstate cooperation, is evidence of this.
And there's a reason for it. Regional countries were able to “make serious progress in resolving vital issues and to fill cooperation among Central Asian states with a qualitatively new content” thanks to shared political will and concerted efforts, as the President of Uzbekistan underlined.
Many barriers that were sources of interstate tension have been dismantled in recent years. Primarily, neighboring countries were able to address critical border issues, allowing transportation communications to resume.
The discourse on mutually beneficial use of water and energy resources, as well as guaranteeing water, energy, and food security, is currently underway.
Cooperation links among Central Asian states are strengthening in
a variety of fields. They formed joint investment entities, work is underway to build cross-border industrial and trade zones, and interstate projects in the industrial, agriculture, automotive, and energy sectors are being launched.
A visa-free regime has been implemented, as well as circumstances for free movement of citizens and active cultural and tourism interactions.
Since 2016, Uzbekistan has increased the number of checkpoints with Central Asian countries to 78, tripled the number of bus services, and more than doubled the number of air flights.
Today, the boundaries between Uzbekistan and Central Asian countries can legitimately be referred to as bridges of peace and goodwill. For example, the Uzbek-Kyrgyz border can now be crossed with the display of an internal document - a general civil ID-card - starting September 1 of this year.
The work on trade and economic, transport and energy cooperation has reached a new stage. Thus, in 2020-2021 Uzbekistan created joint investment funds and companies with Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, in 2022 and 2023 began construction of cross-border industrial-trade and industrial zones with Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan.
Projects are underway with Kyrgyzstan to build the China-Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan railroad and the Kambarata hydroelectric power plant, with Tajikistan - the Yavan hydroelectric power plant on the Zarafshan River, and with Kazakhstan - a multimodal transport and logistics center in Tashkent. These are just some examples, of which there are many in other Central Asian states.
Of course, there are still concerns to be addressed. The most important thing, though, is to sustain dialogue and a solid course toward mutually accepted concessions. Today, it is critical to overcome narrow national egoisms, see the inextricable relationship between the region's sustainable future and its own development possibilities, and reach mutually beneficial solutions that fulfill the interests of all parties. And given the inertia of regional collaboration, this appears to be feasible.
“It is necessary to find common approaches and join efforts to find mutually acceptable solutions”, President of Kyrgyzstan stated. “There are no intractable problems, all we need is political will”.
Akramjon Nematov,
first deputy director of the Institute for Strategic and Regional Studies under the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan
