President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev took part in the 5th consultative meeting of the leaders of the Central Asian countries held on September 14 in Dushanbe at the invitation of the President of Tajikistan, Emomali Rahmon, the press service of the President of Uzbekistan reported.
President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, President of Kyrgyzstan Sadyr Japarov, President of Turkmenistan Serdar Berdimuhamedow, President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev as the guest of honor and Special Representative of the UN Secretary General – Head of the Regional Center for Preventive Diplomacy for Central Asia Kakha Imnadze also participated in the summit chaired by Emomali Rahmon.
In accordance with the agenda, further expansion of multilateral cooperation in the region, including the development of political dialogue, promotion of joint programs and projects in the fields of trade, investment, transport, energy, agriculture and ecology, activation of cultural and humanitarian exchange, against modern threats and risks in the field of security issues of action were discussed.
In his speech, the President of Uzbekistan highly appreciated the common efforts to strengthen trust, good neighborliness and partnership relations between the countries of the region.
The influence of global processes on the sustainable development of the region was deeply analyzed, and it was noted that the possibility of effectively countering such risks depends on the consolidation of joint efforts aimed at deepening multilateral partnership.
In this regard, the President of Uzbekistan made a number of proposals regarding the prospects of cooperation between Central Asian countries.
In order to increase the volume of goods turnover, it was proposed to quickly form full-fledged free trade zones without exceptions and restrictions.
Also, in order to further increase the potential of the countries in the field of transport, within the framework of the meetings of the sector ministers, the development of the agreement on Transport and Transit in Central Asia, the development of effective transport corridors for access to the markets of China, South Asia and the Middle East, as well as the EU countries, using intermediate tariffs that are convenient for business it was proposed to form specific mechanisms.
In addition, a proposal was put forward to prepare a program of measures to optimize the procedures for liberalization and authorization of the transport services market, and to consider the issue of creating an integrated digital platform of international transport.
“Unfortunately, the pace of development of energy infrastructures in the region lags behind industrialization and urbanization processes, as well as demographic growth. Today, this is a serious threat to the long-term sustainable development of our countries,” the head of Uzbekistan said, drawing attention to the problems of ensuring energy security.
In addition, the construction of new trunk networks for the supply of electricity should become an important direction of our cooperation.
At the same time, it was noted that sustainable development of the region is impossible without diversifying energy sources, attracting investments and technologies in the field of alternative energy, and starting the production of “green” hydrogen.
