Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- On 2-3 May, the official visit of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev to the Federal Republic of Germany will take place, which will undoubtedly become a significant event in relations between the two countries. The results of the visit will make an important contribution to strengthening the political dialogue and mutually beneficial bilateral cooperation, which has entered the trajectory of progressive growth in recent years.

It is symbolic that the visit will be the first foreign trip of the head of our state after the constitutional referendum and will take place against the backdrop of the launch of the process of fundamental transformation of the political system of the country, which has taken a steady course towards the further development of the foundations of a democratic rule of law state with a socially oriented market economy and a secular socio-political system.

Today, Germany is one of the key, time-tested, reliable partners of Uzbekistan. It is Germany, which was among the first to recognize the independence of our country, for 30 years has been providing effective support in sustainable development and strengthening the sovereignty of Uzbekistan. The new positive dynamics in relations between the two countries is gaining momentum today, covering more and more new areas of cooperation every year. Among them are issues of security, trade and economic cooperation, democratic reforms, environmental protection, science and education, culture, tourism and sustainable development of Central Asia.

Undoubtedly, this became possible thanks, first of all, to the intensive and trusting political dialogue at the highest level, which every year becomes more comprehensive. The official visit of President Shavkat Mirziyoyev to Germany in 2019 actually restarted relations after a long period of stagnation. In turn, the return visit of the German Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier to Uzbekistan gave a qualitatively new dynamic to the interaction between the two countries. A constructive dialogue at the highest level continued during the pandemic in 2020-2021, when 4 telephone conversations and 1 online summit were held with the President and Chancellor of Germany.

The key driver of comprehensive cooperation is the developing institutional framework, including the activities of joint intergovernmental working groups on trade and investment, agriculture, the German-Uzbek Business Council, the Inter-Parliamentary Friendship Group and the Joint Commission for Cultural Cooperation. Moreover, the interaction is filled with new content, sister city relations are being established between the cities of Tashkent and Berlin, Bukhara and Bonn, interuniversity partnership is expanding.

Maintaining and building up mutually beneficial cooperation with Germany is one of the key foreign policy priorities of Uzbekistan. The ongoing Development Strategy of New Uzbekistan and the constitutional reform open up new prospects for deepening and expanding Uzbek-German relations.

First, this is the development of cooperation in the field of democratic reforms, strengthening the foundations of a social state, a market economy.

In recent years, the principles of the activities of state bodies have been radically revised in Uzbekistan, and a fundamental turn towards democratic development has taken place. Today, the country has made significant progress in decentralizing public administration and liberalizing the economy, ensuring transparency in the activities of public authorities, and strengthening the participation of citizens in the affairs of society and the state.

The constitutional reform will make this process irreversible. The development of democratic institutions, public administration and the judicial and legal system, increasing the responsibility of all branches of state power for ensuring the honor and dignity of a person, his fundamental rights and freedoms are fixed as a task of the constitutional rank.

Here, the experience of Germany, which has achieved significant success in these areas, is of great interest.

Today, Berlin highly appreciates and fully supports the transformations in Uzbekistan. So, during 28 April. conference “Uzbekistan-Germany: new horizons of cooperation”, German Ambassador to Uzbekistan Tilo Klinner noted that “we are witnessing a kaleidoscope of unprecedented changes in New Uzbekistan, and the visit of President Shavkat Mirziyoyev to Germany will give a powerful impetus to Uzbek-German relations, which are experiencing an unprecedented rise”. According to him, there is great potential for cooperation in the field of administrative reform, the development of parliamentarism, the strengthening of the judiciary, which will be an important contribution to the practical implementation of the constitutional reform.

It should be noted that such cooperation is already underway. Thanks to the assistance of the political foundations named after Konrad Adenauer, Friedrich Ebert and Hans Seidel, partner organizations of Uzbekistan and Germany are successfully interacting, dozens of joint projects are being implemented in the field of ensuring media independence, gender equality, the rights and freedoms of citizens, which have become an important part of the reforms being carried out in our country.

Second, Uzbekistan is interested in intensifying dialogue and practical interaction in the formation of a socially oriented market economy and its diversification.

Today, our country has confidently and irrevocably taken a course towards the liberalization of the economy, the financial and banking sector, active support for small and medium-sized businesses, and strengthening the social protection of the population. Thanks to this, Uzbekistan, with a population of almost 40 million, is transforming into a center of economic activity. For the past few years in a row, the republic has been demonstrating stable economic growth rates, varying within 5-6%. At the same time, the World Bank predicts that the average annual growth rate of the country’s GDP until 2030 will remain at the level of 6-7%.

Uzbekistan is increasingly securing the status of a state with the most diversified and steadily developing economy in the region. In 2022 alone, about 100 thousand new enterprises were created in various sectors of the economy, the volume of foreign investment reached US$10 billion, which is 3 times more than in 2017. About 1 million people have been brought below the poverty line - its level has fallen to 14%, although at the beginning of the reforms this figure exceeded 30%.

This is also recognized by the German partners. Thus, at the aforementioned conference, the regional director of the Eastern Committee of the German Economy, E. Kinsbruner, emphasized that “the reforms launched in 2017 turned out to be not a fleeting phenomenon, but represent a long-term trend for the renewal of the entire state, economy and society. Therefore, Germany’s interest in cooperation with Uzbekistan is enormous, and the readiness of German business, interested in diversifying foreign economic relations, to build up cooperation will only increase. Already today, economic relations between Uzbekistan and Germany are at their historical peak. Exports increased by 130%, imports – by 55%, two business forums were held this year alone, as a result of which a solid package of agreements was signed.”

Indeed, a favorable business climate, democratic reforms in Uzbekistan, peace-loving and good neighborly policy of Tashkent in Central Asia contributed to the deepening of economic ties between Uzbekistan and Germany. For the first time in 30 years, the trade turnover between Uzbekistan and Germany exceeded one billion dollars, having doubled only in the last six years.

Uzbekistan considers Germany as an exemplary example of a successfully developed industrial country with a socially oriented market economy. The current achievements of Germany - its transformation into a world leader in a number of industrial and technological sectors of the economy, high rates of economic growth, of course, are the result of the long and painstaking work of the German people.

This explains the interest of Uzbekistan in promoting joint cooperation projects with leading German companies and banks in the field of trade, investment, high technology, industry, agriculture and other sectors.

It is gratifying to note that the interest of German business in Uzbekistan is mutual and is growing steadily, over the past six years the number of enterprises with the participation of German capital has doubled - from 120 to 219, the Uzbek market is being developed by such large flagship companies as Siemens, BASF, Thyssen Group, Roland Berger, Adidas Group, Papenburg, Falk Porsche. As a result, already today the volume of assimilated German investments has doubled - from US$700 million to an unprecedented in our relations US$1.5 billion, which are directed to such basic sectors of the Uzbek economy as mining, chemical industry, production of building materials, pharmaceuticals, agriculture economy, energy, transport.

An energy dialogue has been established and is developing, regular contacts are maintained with the German Energy Agency, cooperation is being carried out with German companies, including Siemens Energy, Viessman and other enterprises, in the construction of power plants based on RES, training personnel in the field of alternative energy, energy efficiency. Large-scale projects are planned in the field of modernizing the sewerage and water supply systems, developing transport and logistics infrastructure, agriculture and animal husbandry.

Meanwhile, Uzbekistan is discovering a vast German market. At the end of 2022, the export of Uzbek goods for the first time showed record results - US$88.9 million. At the same time, the agreements reached during the 7th meeting of the Uzbek-German Business Council in February-March in Berlin, will increase this figure by 4 times. The main export items are manufactured goods, fruit and vegetable, textile and chemical products. Germany, recognizing the high dynamics of reforms and the development prospects of Uzbekistan, is increasing financial and technical assistance, the volume of which in 2022 amounted to US$650 million.

Thirdly, for modern Uzbekistan, which has a huge demographic potential, cooperation in the field of vocational education, training and advanced training of personnel is of great interest. In this regard, in a country with an average age of the population below 30 years, the new edition of the Constitution of Uzbekistan pays special attention to obtaining a quality education. In the last 7 years alone, the coverage of higher education has increased from 9% to 38%, the number of universities has grown from 70 to more than 200, and foreign universities are opening. Increasing cooperation in this area will allow the German side to make up for the shortage in skilled labor that the German economy is experiencing.

Moreover, taking into account the best practices of Germany in the field of alternative energy, as well as the goal of Uzbekistan to bring the share of renewable energy to 30% in the country’s energy balance by 2030, there is a growing interest in cooperation in promoting the "green" agenda, as well as the introduction of energy efficient and resource-saving technologies. .

In this direction, the two countries have a good foundation for joint close cooperation. According to the project director of the German Energy Agency Elena Metzger, Uzbekistan has a huge potential in the field of solar energy and biogas, the use of heat pumps in the agro-industrial complex, Germany is ready to assist in the introduction of green technologies and training for this area.

Uzbekistan, along with sustainable economic growth and significant human potential, has a powerful resource base, which creates the necessary conditions for the development of industrial cooperation on an innovative and technological basis. In Central Asia, including in Uzbekistan, from 5 to 40% of the reserves of such critical materials as manganese ore, chromium, lead, zinc, titanium, copper, cobalt and molybdenum are concentrated, the demand for which in the context of the transition to "green" and digital economy is growing every year.

Fourth, the strengthening and development of friendly relations with neighboring states on the basis of cooperation and mutual support, the pursuit of a peaceful foreign policy are designated as an important direction in the new Constitution.

In this regard, Uzbekistan is interested in deepening bilateral dialogue with Germany, as our countries have the potential to jointly address key issues of regional security. Tashkent and Berlin take identical or similar positions on many topical issues of our time. Germany fully supports the policy of good neighborliness of Uzbekistan in Central Asia, promotes the creation of conditions for deepening integration and peaceful coexistence of the countries of the region.

The creative regional policy of Uzbekistan has received the support of all neighboring states, thanks to which the Central Asian region, even in conditions of high turbulence in the world, remains a space of friendship, trust and mutually beneficial cooperation. Today the region is more consolidated and resistant to internal and external challenges.

An important platform for expanding cooperation between the countries of the region was the mechanism established in 2018 for holding Consultative Meetings of the Heads of State of Central Asia. In a short time, this format has become an effective platform for a confidential constructive discussion and an agreed solution to common problems of the countries of Central Asia.

It should be noted that the states of the region have a wide potential for growth. Since 2000, the total GDP of the states of the region has grown from US$46 billion to US$397 billion in 2022, recording an annual growth of 6.2%, which is higher than the average growth rate of world GDP over the years, which amounted to 2.6%. Over the past six years, the total foreign trade turnover of Central Asia has doubled, having overcome the mark of US$200 billion, the inflow of foreign direct investment into the region has increased by 45%, reaching US$40 billion in 2022.

Thanks to the coordinated interaction between the countries of Central Asia, since 2016 the UN General Assembly has supported 18 resolutions aimed at uniting the efforts of the international community in ensuring the sustainable development of the region.

At the same time, while supporting open and constructive cooperation in Central Asia, Berlin is interested in the stability and sustainable development of the region, the inclusion of the Central Asian states in world economic relations and advocates the intensification of a common European policy in this region.

It was Germany that initiated the European Union Strategy for Central Asia, adopted in 2007 and updated in 2019, and it was Germany that was at the origins of the development of the new EU initiative “Global Gateway”, in which the Central Asian region is given a key place.

As a result, there has been an intensification and strengthening of contacts between the EU leadership and the leaders of the Central Asian countries in recent years. In 2022, the "Central Asia - EU" format, launched in 2008, is brought to the level of heads of state. Meetings of the heads of foreign affairs agencies are held on a regular basis, as well as the EU-CA High-Level Dialogue on Political and Security Issues.

An important event in the development of interaction between the European Union and Central Asia was the holding on 18 November 2022 in Samarkand of the first conference on interconnectivity "EU-Central Asia: Global Gateway for Sustainable Development". The parties agreed to take joint measures for the infrastructural development of the Central Asian states, strengthening their interconnectedness and integration into international production and logistics chains and transport corridors.

Today, the countries of the region themselves are expressing interest in building up cooperation with Germany. This will make it possible to fully realize the resource and raw materials, production, transport, logistics and intellectual potential of Central Asia, integrate the region into global value chains, strengthen regional subjectivity as an important factor in ensuring sustainable development, security and stability not only in Central Asia, but also far beyond.

Another priority of cooperation is the deepening of cooperation with respect to Afghanistan, on the peaceful and sustainable development of which depend not only the stability of neighboring countries, but also global security. Today, the humanitarian and socio-economic situation in this country is aggravated, creating a fertile ground for the growth of threats of terrorism and organized crime.

To eliminate the social basis of terrorism, it is necessary to coordinate efforts in the socio-economic reconstruction of Afghanistan. At the same time, special attention should be paid to the training of new qualified personnel for Afghanistan in those areas that can become drivers for the development of its economy. This will contribute to the integration of Afghanistan into Central Asia, which has embarked on the path of democratic secular development, a market economy, and, in the long term, to stabilize the situation in this country.

It should be noted that only through a coordinated dialogue with the new authorities of Afghanistan, including on issues of ensuring human rights, socio-economic assistance, and involvement in regional economic ties, it is possible to create the necessary conditions for the country to return to the path of sustainable peaceful development.

In general, the current state of relations between Uzbekistan and Germany shows a mutual desire to increase cooperation and partnership. For our country, relations with Berlin now and in the future remain the most important direction of the foreign policy strategy. It is obvious that both sides have clear guidelines and priorities for interaction, an understanding of the demand for each other. And today there is reason to believe that the comprehensive dialogue between Uzbekistan and Germany, following the upcoming high-level visit, is moving into a new qualitative stage, closer and targeted cooperation in key areas not only on a bilateral basis, but also at the level of Central Asian states and the European Union.

Shakhnoza Kadyrova,

Chief Researcher

Institute for Strategic and Interregional Studies

under the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan