Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- On 14-15 September 2023, the Fifth Anniversary Consultative Meeting of the Heads of State of Central Asia is being held in Dushanbe under the chairmanship of the President of the Republic of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon.

The leaders of the countries of the region once again expressed their determination to actively promote the solution of regional problems based on the principles of good neighborliness, mutual trust, equality, respect and consideration of each other’s interests.

During the Consultative Meeting, the President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev outlined his vision of solving the primary tasks of regional cooperation.

Thus, important attention was paid to discussing issues of ensuring peace, stability and strengthening cooperation in the field of regional security, especially in light of increasing geopolitical tensions.

In particular, addressing the meeting participants, the President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev, among important initiatives, proposed developing an Interstate Program to protect and strengthen the borders of Central Asian countries.

Indeed, today the close relationship between transnational organized crime and terrorism, including drug trafficking, is a matter of concern for the states of Central Asia, which poses a serious threat to the sustainable and stable development of the region.

Currently, due to the presence of a number of disputed and poorly controlled areas, as well as the lack of close coordination between border services, the external and internal borders of the Central Asian countries continue to remain vulnerable to a certain extent.

Moreover, there is a possibility that such border sections could be used by cross-border criminal groups to create “corridors” for the purpose of carrying out their illegal activities, including smuggling of weapons, drugs, illegal migration, etc.

In addition, drug trafficking and the financial flows associated with it, which are directly related to Afghanistan, pose a serious challenge to the region. In 2020, Afghanistan accounted for 85% of the world’s opium production. It is supplied from Afghanistan to the markets of neighboring countries, as well as Europe, the Near and Middle East, South Asia and Africa.

On the other hand, new psychoactive substances appearing on the markets on an illicit basis, which potentially threaten the security and development of the countries of Central Asia, pose no less of a challenge.

In these conditions, to effectively combat cross-border crimes, the Central Asian states need to coordinate efforts at the national and regional levels, using a common integrated approach to counter the challenges associated with cross-border threats.

In this regard, the development and adoption of such a document will contribute to the implementation by the countries of Central Asia of a single and consolidated policy in the field of borders of the countries of the region against cross-border challenges, promote the development of regional cross-border cooperation through the creation of border outposts, border interaction offices, port control groups and interdepartmental mobile groups.

Summing up, we can state that the holding of the next Consultative Meeting of the Heads of States of Central Asia and the announced initiatives prove that the process of regional cooperation has acquired a sustainable, progressive and irreversible character.

Sarvar Rakhmatullaev, leading researcher at the International Institute of Central Asia