Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- The V Consultative Meeting of the Heads of States of Central Asia, held on 14 September in Dushanbe, according to Doctor of Economics D.V. Trostyansky, clearly demonstrated that the region, through joint efforts, is consistently and confidently transforming into an area of mutually beneficial cooperation and new economic opportunities in trade, investment, business and innovation.

The heads of states directly link the effectiveness of countering global challenges and threats in Central Asia with the consolidation of joint efforts aimed at deepening a multifaceted partnership, the main driver of which is trade and economic cooperation. The countries of the region are making every effort to develop practical cooperation in this area. As a result, Central Asia is becoming one of the important centers of economic growth and investment activity.

Large regional projects not only bring tangible mutual benefits, but also change the entire configuration of the economies of the Central Asian states. This has made it possible over the past five years to increase intraregional trade turnover by more than 80% to US$11 billion, and in the near future to increase it to US$15 billion.

As the President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev emphasized in his speech, especially broad prospects are opening up for the business community with the further development of industrial cooperation and the formation on its basis of continuous value chains in the production of mineral fertilizers, polymers, finished metal products; assembly of agricultural machinery; production of finished textile and food products for export to third countries. To give a systematic character to joint efforts, the head of Uzbekistan proposed to develop a Strategy for the development of industrial cooperation of the countries of Central Asia for the long term, as well as to create an Economic Council of the States of Central Asia.

This initiative was also supported by the President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, who noted that today in global production there is a trend towards the formation of short and sustainable regional supply chains. The countries of Central Asia have enormous potential for creating cluster cooperation projects for the production of food, light goods, construction and chemical industries. To make full use of it, it was proposed to develop an action plan for the development of industrial cooperation among Central Asian states, which would allow the formation of closed cycles for the production of certain types of goods with the prospect of export to the markets of third countries.

Having identified the expansion of interstate trade and economic relations and increasing the volume of mutual trade turnover as the most important task, President of Turkmenistan Serdar Berdimuhamedov emphasized that extreme specificity and effective measures are required here. In this regard, to coordinate joint steps in the development of trade, ensure the commercial interests of all potential economic entities in the Central Asian market, and attract investments for the implementation of large regional projects, the creation of a Central Asian Chamber of Commerce has been proposed.

The results of the V Consultative Meeting of the Heads of State of Central Asia indicate the beginning of a new stage of economic cooperation - the formalization and institutionalization of the proposed initiatives, with the development of specific mechanisms and institutions for their implementation.