Turkmenistan- Tajikistan- Uzbekistan: Strategic partners and responsible neighbors
The first meeting in this format is aimed at further strengthening the relations of strategic partnership and mutual trust, continuing a constructive dialogue in the search for mutually acceptable solutions to topical issues facing the three countries and the region as a whole.
Tashkent: July 4: Today, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev will take part in a trilateral meeting of the leaders of Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan, which will be held in Ashgabat, Dunyo news agency reported.
The first meeting in this format is aimed at further strengthening the relations of strategic partnership and mutual trust, continuing a constructive dialogue in the search for mutually acceptable solutions to topical issues facing the three countries and the region as a whole.
As expected, it will become a practical embodiment of the desire to further strengthen and deepen comprehensive ties based on friendship and good neighborliness, common history, traditions, culture and civilizational proximity of the peoples of the three states.
Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan are inextricably linked not only by geographical and geopolitical factors, but also by common challenges related to environmental and economic security and sustainable development.
As you know, improving and deepening relations with neighbors is a priority of our country’s foreign policy. Uzbekistan is taking unprecedented steps to comprehensively strengthen regional cooperation in Central Asia.
Thanks to this, the political climate in Central Asia has improved significantly, and a spirit of genuine good neighborliness and mutual trust has begun to take shape. The process of regional integration and cooperation has entered a new phase.
In particular, historical agreements have been reached on the interstate borders of Uzbekistan with Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, transport links between countries and cities have been restored, and the exchange of mutual visits at various levels has been intensified. In addition, solutions were found to such complex issues as water use, border crossing, and the use of transport communications at the regional level.
This had a significant positive impact on the development of trade and economic relations between neighboring countries. By the end of 2022, the volume of regional foreign trade turnover of Uzbekistan increased 3 times compared to 2016 and amounted to 7.5 billion US dollars.
At the initiative of the Uzbek side, in March 2018, a new multilateral mechanism was created – holding Consultative meetings of the leaders of Central Asian countries. And this format has proven its effectiveness. As part of the Fourth Consultative Meeting of the Heads of State of Central Asia in the Kyrgyz city of Cholpon-Ata on July 21, 2022, the three states signed the “Treaty of Friendship, Good Neighborliness and Cooperation for the Development of Central Asia in the 21st Century”.
It should be noted that our countries are developing effective cooperation and supporting each other within the framework of international organizations such as the UN, the CIS, the Economic Cooperation Organization and others.
The continued development and deepening of relations between the three states meets the fundamental interests of their peoples and will contribute to strengthening peace, stability, security and sustainable development in the region.
Today, on the agenda of interaction is the solution of urgent problems in the political, trade, economic, water and energy, environmental and other areas of mutual interest. Given the great potential of the three countries in the field of transport, logistics and transit, special importance is attached to the development of cooperation in the transport and communication sphere. To effectively use the existing potential, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan are interested in activating the routes passing through the territories of the three countries to provide access to seaports, including the Caspian Sea and the Persian Gulf, as well as in the direction of China.
In addition, all three countries border Afghanistan. In this context, the unification of efforts to resolve the Afghan issue is of key importance in the process of ensuring stability and security for the entire region. Afghanistan is considered as an integral part of the Central Asian region.
As President Shavkat Mirziyoyev noted, “continuation of close cooperation in promoting long-term peace in Afghanistan and its socio-economic reconstruction should remain the most important priority of the Central Asian states.”
Undoubtedly, the upcoming meeting in Ashgabat of the leaders of the three Central Asian republics will lay the foundation for the formation of clear plans to overcome economic risks that are growing due to uncertainties in the world, deepen the trade, economic, transport and logistics potential of Central Asia, as well as strengthen the bonds of brotherhood and good neighborliness throughout the region
