I welcoming remarks

Uzbekistan’s Approaches to the Settlement of the Afghan
Conflict, Measures and Efforts Undertaken to Promote the
Socio-Economic Reconstruction of Afghanistan
Gairat Fazilov, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the
Republic of Uzbekistan
First of all, I would like to express my gratitude for the
opportunity to give a speech at such an important event and to
outline Uzbekistan’s vision and approaches on the situation in
Afghanistan.
When we say that Central Asia is the main priority of
Uzbekistan’s foreign policy, we also mean the development of
relations with the neighboring Afghanistan.
To be sure, the discussions in the previous panel sessions
focused on cooperation between and among the five Central
Asian nations themselves. However, no one can deny that the
situation in Afghanistan has a direct impact on security and
stability in Central Asia, and our countries are primarily
interested in stabilization of the situation in Afghanistan and
preventing the threats coming from that country.
Uzbekistan’s regional policy objectives are to ensure
peace and stability, enhance mutually beneficial and constructive
political, trade-economic and cultural-humanitarian cooperation
with all neighboring nations.
Shavkat Miromonovich Mirziyoyev, Honorable President
of the Republic of Uzbekistan, has stressed that Uzbekistan has
invariably remained committed to a friendly, open, constructive
and pragmatic policy towards Afghanistan during meetings with
leaders of foreign countries, including the President of
Afghanistan, as well as in his speeches.

---

85
One of the main priorities of Uzbekistan’s foreign policy
are the maintenance and development of friendly relations with
the neighboring state.
I would like to draw attention to the two tracks of our
policy towards Afghanistan. The first is approach to the efforts
being undertaken by the Afghan forces and the international
community to settle the conflict and launch a peaceful political
process; while the second wing is bilateral cooperation.
According to the first aspect, in our opinion, there is a
need for sober assessment of the current difficult situation in the
country and consideration of the following factors:
First, the results of the international community’s efforts
undertaken for more than three decades have convincingly shown
that there is no military solution to the Afghan problem. The only
way to peace is a direct dialogue between the central government
and the main domestic political forces.
At the same time, there is an important circumstance. The
future negotiations format should be determined by the Afghans
themselves. The talks must take place on the territory of
Afghanistan and under the auspices of the United Nations without
preconditions put forward by the conflicting parties.
Second, there has been a complete internationalization of
the Afghan conflict by the present moment, its substance and
structure have fundamentally changed.
In this regard, Afghanistan’s neighbors and major powers
should create conditions for mutual understanding and
cooperation on the Afghan issue at the regional and broad
international levels. It means that it is necessary to form a
consensus at the regional level in addition to intra-Afghan
compromise, as well as mutual understanding and common
approaches among the major extra-regional players. At the same
time, the efforts of all parties involved in the Afghan process
should not substitute, but complement each other.

---

86
Third, the most important condition for stabilizing the
situation in Afghanistan, along with a political settlement, is its
integration into world economic relations with the regional
nations as well as the states of Central Asia. We should look at
Afghanistan not as a problem, but as an opportunity, a new
prospect for mutually beneficial regional cooperation.
Fourth, serious attention should be paid to the most acute
social issues. It is premature to talk about the possibility of
achieving sustainable peace and stability without solving these
problems.
The Afghan crisis should not be “an afterthought” in the
international agenda with the emergence of new hot spots in
various regions of the world. It is extremely essential that donor
countries and international institutions do not reduce the attention
and assistance to Afghanistan in addressing urgent problems.
With regard to bilateral cooperation between Uzbekistan
and Afghanistan, we have been taking active measures to expand
relations in some areas of mutual interest today, in particular by
intensifying political dialogue, trade-economic and cultural-
humanitarian interaction.
We consider our efforts to advance Afghanistan’s socio-
economic development, especially in the northern parts of the
country, as an integral and important element of the overall
efforts to stabilize the situation in the nation and its sustainable
development.
Three meetings between two countries’ leaders, two
sessions of the bilateral intergovernmental commission, the first
round of inter-ministerial political consultations have been
recently held. The delegation exchange between the two
countries’ economic agencies have become more active.
A number of bilateral documents were signed as a result
of Uzbekistan’s governmental delegation visit in January this
year, including the roadmap for 2017 for the further development
of full-scale cooperation between Uzbekistan and Afghanistan.

---

87
Uzbekistan supplies electricity, fruits and vegetables, oil
products, mineral fertilizers to Afghanistan, and participates in
projects of construction, energy, mining sectors within the
agreements and the road map implementation. Uzbek specialists’