Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) – On 23 May 2023, the Academy of the Armed Forces hosted a meeting of experts from the Institute for Strategic and Interregional Studies under the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan with a group of students from the Royal College of Defense Studies of Great Britain, including representatives of Australia, Kuwait, Nepal, New Zealand, Oman, Pakistan, Japan and other countries.

The military institution is one of the oldest British academic institutions that train specialists for the military, diplomatic and other public service in the field of national defense and international security.

During the meeting, issues of strengthening regional cooperation in Central Asia and the role of Uzbekistan in these processes, as well as prospects for stabilizing the situation in Afghanistan were discussed.

The position of Uzbekistan on deepening cooperation in the region and ensuring sustainable development and stability in Central Asia, as well as on topical issues on the international agenda, was brought to the notice of the British guests.

In particular, Akromjon Nematov, First Deputy Director of ISMI, noted that since 2016 the situation in Central Asia has changed dramatically. Thanks to joint efforts, a fundamentally new political atmosphere has been created in the region, aimed at building trust and rapprochement.

In this context, it is emphasized that the main priority of the foreign policy activity of the Republic of Uzbekistan is the region of Central Asia. The principles that guide our country are a proactive dialogue, equality, consideration of interests, reasonable compromise.

A striking example of a new level of relations in the region is the establishment of the Consultative Meetings of the Heads of State of Central Asia. New formats of regional cooperation began to function actively - an inter-parliamentary forum, an economic forum, a forum of women leaders.

New forms of economic cooperation - investment funds, border trade and industrial zones, industrial cooperation projects - made it possible to increase the number of joint ventures by five times from 2016 to 2022, and intra-regional trade grew 4 times - from US$5.5 billion to US$20 billion

During the conversation with the British guests, ISMI experts also focused on the fact that today Uzbekistan is in the process of implementing important and difficult reforms related to the renewal of society and the state, further strengthening the rights and freedoms of the individual, and increasing the responsibility of the state for the provision and development of civil society.

In this regard, A. Nematov dwelled in detail on certain aspects of the constitutional reform carried out, as well as priority areas of the Development Strategy of New Uzbekistan for 2022-2026.

In turn, the head of the British delegation, Stephen Dainton, said that their visit to Uzbekistan took place as part of the postgraduate education program in the field of international strategic studies. According to him, before arriving in Uzbekistan, a group of students visited Georgia and Kazakhstan, where they also discussed regional security and stability issues with leading think tanks and expert circles.

Following the meeting, mutual readiness was expressed to continue cooperation between the analytical and academic circles of Uzbekistan and the UK in areas of mutual interest