Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- On 14 June, the VII Central Asian Expert Forum “Central Asia: Gravity of Trust”, organized by the Kazakhstan Institute of Strategic Studies under the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, took place in Astana.

The Forum was attended by leaders, experts and specialists from strategic institutions, research institutions and foreign policy departments of the Central Asian states.

The Uzbek side was represented by the leadership and experts of the Institute for Strategic and Interregional Studies (ISMI) under the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan and the International Institute of Central Asia.

The parties discussed the results of the first five years of the mechanism of Consultative Meetings of the Heads of State of Central Asia and the priorities of the new stage of regional cooperation.

Speaking at the panel session “Launching a new cycle of regional cooperation,” First Deputy Director of ISMI Akramzhon Nematov noted that the meeting was in great demand. It takes place on the eve of the next Consultative Meeting, which will launch a new cycle of regional cooperation.

As the representative of ISMI emphasized, recently regional cooperation has been progressively developing, acquiring a systemic and continuous character.

Today Central Asia is much more united and resilient to the challenges of our time than ever before.

Through joint efforts it is possible to maintain peace and harmony in the region. Countries are showing greater readiness to take responsibility for ensuring common and indivisible security and sustainable development of the region.

In particular, this is evidenced by the mechanism launched last month for meetings of the secretaries of the Security Councils of the Central Asian states, regular meetings of the heads of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, heads of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Central Asian countries and other formats.

It was noted that thanks to stability and sustainability, Central Asia is becoming a center of attraction for investments, a point of concentration of economic and diplomatic activity.

According to Akramjon Nematov, using competitive advantages and complementarity of economies, the countries of the region are developing industrial cooperation, using their powerful resource potential and human capital.

As a result, today Central Asia is entering the industrial-technological structure of the economy, transforming into a capacious interconnected market and an important link in the international value chain.

According to the expert, “against the backdrop of the observed geopolitical uncertainty and volatility in the world, our region acts as an anchor of stability and sustainability.”

At the same time, “the positive dynamics in Central Asia, coupled with the proximity to the centers of geopolitical activity, increases the geostrategic importance of the region,” says the ISMR representative.

In his words, “the interest of external actors in cooperation with Central Asia is noticeably increasing, despite all the difficulties, the countries of the region manage to maintain healthy competition here.”

According to Akramjon Nematov, all this became possible due to the fact that the countries of the region keep Central Asia open and pursue a balanced foreign policy based on the interests of regional stability and development. And this, as the President of Uzbekistan noted at the 78th session of the UN General Assembly, “is the most important condition ensuring the security and sustainable development of the region.”