Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- On 10 March 2023, in Dushanbe, Director of the International Institute of Central Asia (MICA) Vladimir Norov spoke at an international scientific and practical conference on the topic: "Tajikistan - Central Asia: a policy of good neighborliness, mutual assistance, eternal friendship and joint development".

Vladimir Norov noted that thanks to the political will of the leaders of the states of Central Asia, in recent years our countries have managed to form a really new political paradigm of cooperation. Many long-standing problems have been resolved, the process of economic cooperation has begun, human contacts have been activated.

All this created the conditions for the transformation of our region into a single trade, investment, transport and communication platform. Projects of industrial cooperation are being implemented in various sectors of the economy, from the automotive industry to agriculture. Contacts between the regions of states are expanding, cultural and humanitarian ties are deepening.

According to the director of MICA, stable Central Asia is already becoming one of the important centers of investment activity and economic growth. According to some experts, the total GDP of the countries of the region has grown by 20 percent over the past five years and exceeded US$340 billion.

At the same time, speaking only in the context of Uzbekistan, the trade turnover with the countries of the region has increased many times over. In recent years alone, its volumes have tripled to US$7.4 billion.

For the first time in history, Uzbekistan, together with Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Tajikistan, is starting to implement large infrastructure projects in the energy sector. This is the construction of large hydroelectric power stations on the Naryn and Zarafshan rivers.

“The same active dynamics of cooperation is observed in neighboring countries.”

It was emphasized that as a result of general changes in the region, the consistent development by the states of Central Asia of agreed positions on intra-regional issues and close coordination on international platforms has become clearly visible.

“The unified position of the states of Central Asia began to sound within the framework of the UN, the CIS, the SCO, the OIC, the ECO and other platforms.”

At the same time, it is noted that thanks to such positive changes, in recent years, the countries of the region have developed a unique common approach to building relations with leading states and centers of power within the framework of the “Central Asia Plus” dialogue format (EU, India, China, Russia, USA, South Korea, Japan and the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf).

Vladimir Norov stressed that a peaceful, economically prosperous Central Asia is our most important goal and primary task.