On January 15, 2020, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Uzbekistan Abdulaziz Kamilov addressed the 5th Raisina Dialogue International Conference, held under the auspices of the Ministry of External Affairs of India, in New Delhi, Uzbekistan MFA reports.
The Raisina Dialogue is a multilateral conference committed to addressing the most challenging issues facing the global community. Every year, global leaders in policy, business, media and civil society are hosted in New Delhi to discuss cooperation on a wide range of pertinent international policy matters.
In his speech, the head of Uzbekistan delegation noted that over the four years since its foundation, The Raisina Dialogue has established itself as one of the most respected and recognized venues in the world for exchanging views on key issues of regional and global development. The high status of the forum held in New Delhi is a testament to the huge potential of India as one of the centers of the economy, the largest democracy in the world and a key player in South Asia.
“Today the world is changing dynamically, fundamentally new trends are gaining strength”, the Minister said. “Fundamental shifts are taking place in the global economy. The interdependence of states and the interconnectedness of their economies is growing. Along with this, uncertainty and instability of the modern system of international relations remains. Conditions for resolving the problems of ensuring regional and international security and resolving local conflicts are becoming significantly more complicated”.
The global process taking place in the world have an impact on the situation in Central Asia, where the competing interests of the leading world powers intersect. Centers of instability remain near the region that directly affect regional and international security.
“At the same time, these challenges do not fragment, but rather consolidate our region”, said Abdulaziz Kamilov. “Central Asia today is one of the worthy examples of the positive process development for strengthening regional cooperation, political trust, the desire of the states of the region to solve common problems on the principles of mutual consideration of interests and reasonable compromises. Thanks to the course of openness and good neighborliness carried out by Uzbekistan under the leadership of President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, a completely new political climate has been created in Central Asia, which has made it possible to solve many acute regional problems over the past three years”.
The most impressive results have been achieved in expanding regional trade. For example, over the past 3 years, the trade turnover between Uzbekistan and the Central Asian states has grown on average by more than 2.5 times.
It was noted that Uzbekistan welcomes and supports ongoing international efforts to resolve the conflict in Afghanistan. The most important condition for the return of Afghanistan to peaceful life is the continuation of efforts to involve this country in regional trade-economic relations and cross-border infrastructure projects. This will contribute to the advancement of the peace process and the transformation of Afghanistan into a key link in the transport, logistics and trade-economic interconnectedness of the regions of Central and South Asia and the Middle East.
“India traditionally has a special place in the foreign policy of our country”, said the Foreign Minister. “Uzbekistan – India strategic partnership is developing dynamically and steadily. This is evidenced by the high intensity of bilateral official contacts, including the state visit of the President of Uzbekistan to India in October 2018 and his participation in the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit in January 2019”.
There is an active exchange between Uzbekistan and India at all levels, in which new formats and mechanisms of cooperation are involved. Cooperation between the foreign affairs agencies of the two countries and dialogue on international issues, including within the UN and the SCO, are developing successfully.
Trends in strengthening regional cooperation in Central Asia open up unprecedented opportunities for multifaceted deepening of cooperation between the countries of the region and India.
Formation of a unified transport and transit system that unites India with Central Asian countries through Afghanistan is of particular importance. Uzbekistan highly appreciates the accession of New Delhi to Ashgabat agreement. Implementation of these plans will give a new impetus to development of broad trans-regional ties throughout Eurasia.