“The leaders of the CIS countries expressed unprecedented readiness to eliminate all conditions and prerequisites that increase the conflict potential of the region,” said Vladimir Norov, director of the Institute for Strategic and Interregional Studies (ISMI), while speaking at the international conference “Korea-Central Asia Cooperation Forum” in Seoul.
“In the context of the development of regional cooperation in Central Asia, the past two years have truly become historic and breakthrough thanks to the new regional policy of the President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev. Central Asian countries demonstrate a strong commitment and enormous potential in the development of constructive cooperation in all areas based on the principles of friendly neighborhood, mutual benefit and respect, as well as consideration for mutual interests,” he said.
As a result of the intensification of regional cooperation, trade turnover of Uzbekistan with the countries of the region increased by an average of 38% and with individual states by 52% in January-September 2018.
“The improvement of trade and economic relations between the countries of Central Asia contributed to the increase of the investment attractiveness of Uzbekistan and the region as a whole. In particular, from the beginning of 2017 to the present, over 400 agreements have been signed between Uzbekistan and foreign countries, as well as contracts worth about $ 100 billion,” the expert noted.
In March 2017, Mr. Norov said, the start was given to the implementation of an important section of the transport corridor “Uzbekistan-Turkmenistan-Iran-Oman” - Turkmenabad-Farab railway and road bridges were opened across the Amudarya River. Thanks to these launches, the volume of freight has already increased by 2,5 times.
According to him, there is an opportunity for access to European countries via Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway. In addition, after 20 years of negotiations, significant progress has been achieved in the construction of a railway connecting China and Central Asia through Kyrgyzstan.
