TASHKENT, Uzbekistan, November 16. Today, we stand on the brink of a historic revival of Central Asia, said President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev at the 7th Consultative Meeting of the Heads of State of Central Asia in Tashkent, Trend’s special correspondent reports.
“For the first time, we held meetings of defence ministers, heads of security services, as well as ministers responsible for industry, agriculture, ecology and culture. We also successfully hosted the Central Asian Women Leaders’ Dialogue in Tashkent. All of this clearly shows the steady strengthening of the institutional foundations and mechanisms of our regional partnership,” he said.
The President of Uzbekistan stressed that, amid complex and unpredictable global political developments, reinforcing unity and mutual support has become especially important.
“I am convinced that we are standing on the brink of a historic revival for Central Asia. We have set ourselves the task of further strengthening the institutional foundations of our cooperation and developing a coordinated response to security challenges and issues of sustainable development. It is already important to have a clear vision of what we want our region to look like in 10–20 years. In this regard, I would like to put forward several proposals.
First, it is crucial to continue improving the mechanisms and legal framework of our cooperation. We need to move from a consultative format of regional dialogue to a strategic community of Central Asia. To advance this goal, we propose drafting a regulation on the consultative meetings that would gradually reinforce the institutional and organizational foundations of the format,” he said.
Mirziyoyev also proposed establishing a rotating secretariat and raising the status of national coordinators to special representatives of the presidents.
“In addition, drawing on our values and traditions of public diplomacy, we consider it appropriate to create a Council of Elders made up of respected public figures with substantial life experience. We believe this will help strengthen intergenerational ties in our countries and reinforce broader regional solidarity and identity,” the President of Uzbekistan added.