Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) – On 28 April, Tashkent is hosting a conference in a hybrid format on the topic “Uzbekistan-Germany: new horizons of cooperation”.

The event is timed to the upcoming official visit of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev to the Federal Republic of Germany.

Speaking at the event with a welcoming speech, Director of the Institute for Strategic and Interregional Studies under the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan (ISMI) Eldor Aripov highlighted the importance and relevance of the ongoing forum.

Firstly, as the expert noted, the conference is taking place literally on the eve of an important political event - a referendum on constitutional reform, which will actually launch the process of a fundamental reset of the political system of Uzbekistan. Its essence lies in strengthening the political and legal foundations of a democratic constitutional state, with a socially oriented market economy and a strong civil society.

According to the representative of the ISMI, the fundamental importance of the upcoming referendum lies in the fact that it will consolidate the legal guarantees of the irreversibility and sustainability of the process of democratic reforms launched by the President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev seven years ago and received wide support among the population.

“At the same time, we are aware that with the adoption of a new version of the Constitution, we will not remove all issues, we still have to work hard to introduce its provisions into the practice of social and state building, that is, to turn the Basic Law into the norm of our daily life,” stressed expert.

And this, in fact, is a new long-term development program that will require the mobilization of all available resources, political will, potential and knowledge. “And in this matter, we, of course, count on the support of our partners, especially those states that have an undeniably rich and successful experience in this area,” he said.

Secondly, the head of the ISMI noted, the conference is taking place on the eve of the official visit of the President of Uzbekistan to Germany.

Germany is undoubtedly one of the key, time-tested, reliable partners of Uzbekistan.

We highly appreciate that it is Germany, which was among the first to recognize the independence of Uzbekistan, for over 30 years, has been providing us with effective support in sustainable development and strengthening of sovereignty.

It is gratifying to note that in recent years cooperation between our countries has become even more progressive.

Today, Germany is one of the five largest trade and investment partners of Uzbekistan. This has already been discussed today, but I repeat that for the first time in 30 years, the trade turnover between Uzbekistan and Germany exceeded US$1 billion, having doubled over the past six years.

The presence of German business in Uzbekistan is also growing and, accordingly, the volume of assimilated German investments has doubled - from US$700 million to US$1.5 billion.

Germany is among all our partners the largest supplier of modern machinery and equipment necessary for the modernization of the Uzbek economy.

Summing up, Eldor Aripov noted that all this is an important contribution to the sustainable development of Uzbekistan, the diversification of its economy.

Conference organized by ISMI, the International Institute of Central Asia and the German Foundation. Konrad Adenauer in Central Asia, brought together a solid composition of participants from among representatives of political-forming circles, parliaments, diplomatic corps, business communities, ministries and departments of the two countries. Experts from leading analytical centers in Europe, the Middle East, Asia, America, who arrived in Uzbekistan as observers for the upcoming referendum on constitutional reform, are also invited to the forum.