I welcoming remarks

effective regional cooperation projects. Today, concrete steps
have already been taken along the path. The joint Uzbek-Kazakh
serial production of Ravon Nexia R3 model in Kostanay was
launched.
The activity of intergovernmental commissions of
Uzbekistan with Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan has
been intensified.
Regular exchange of business delegations and joint
business forums and fairs have been established. These events
demonstrated the vivid interest of the entrepreneurs of our
countries in establishing direct business ties with each other.
All this has helped boost Uzbekistan’s trade with Central
Asian nations by 13% for the first half of 2017. The volume of
turnover between Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan grew by 69%, with
Tajikistan it increased by 22%, Kazakhstan – 11%.
Uzbekistan’s leader Shavkat Mirziyoyev has stressed that
owing to the joint work of all countries of our region, Central
Asia becomes a crossroads of transport corridors that connect
the East with the West, the North with the South.

---

102
High-speed rail service has been established between
Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan since early 2017. The air service of
Tashkent with Dushanbe was resumed for the first time in 25
years. The flights between Tashkent and Issyk-Kul region of
Kyrgyzstan are launched. The section of the M-39 highway
between Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan was opened.
President Shavkat Mirziyoyev has said that Central Asia is
a single organism that has had a common cultural space for
centuries. Historical community, linguistic similarity, the
existence of shared traditions, customs give us tremendous
opportunities to be together and work together to build our
common future.
A new level of political trust in the region has given a
powerful impetus to the development of “public diplomacy
institutions”, cultural and humanitarian bonds, and the expansion
of contacts between our countries’ ordinary citizens. The building
by Uzbekistan of a new school in Osh, material and technical
assistance to the Babur Osh State Academic Theater, and the
exchange of friendship visits between the Andijan region and the
city of Osh made a significant contribution to the consolidation of
the historically developed friendly and good-neighborly relations
between the Uzbek and Kyrgyz peoples.
A truly warm and friendly atmosphere was during the
visits of Kazakhstan’s delegations to Tashkent and Samarkand.
The 
meetings 
of 
representatives 
of 
Uzbekistan’s 
and
Turkmenistan’s border regions were bright and informative.
The large-scale celebration of the Days of Uzbek Culture
in Tajikistan for the first time in 20 years showed truly fraternal
relations between the two peoples.
The principle “not to leave acute issues, but to seek
reasonable compromises” is at the heart of Uzbekistan’s regional
policy. Recently, Uzbekistan has made a considerable progress in
addressing the problem of delimitation and delineation of borders

---

103
with neighboring nations. More than 20 meetings of working
groups on this issue have taken place over the past 10 months.
In addition, Uzbekistan supported the initiative of the
United Nations to sign the conventions on the Amudarya and
Syrdarya by the Central Asian states. These international
agreements take into account the positions of all countries in the
region.
The practical results achieved recently by Uzbekistan’s
foreign policy make it possible to state with confidence that the
Central Asian policy orientation of Tashkent has become a timely
and effective response to the long-overdue request for regional
rapprochement, the restoration of confidence and mutual
understanding, and the prompt resolution of the accumulated
problematic issues. To be sure, we are all just at the beginning of
the path. There is still a lot of joint work ahead for the common
prosperity and sustainable development, the peaceful and
successful future of our children. It is important not to “stop at
what has been achieved”, but move forward together.
According to the President of Uzbekistan Shavkat
Mirziyoyev, Uzbekistan remains unswervingly committed to an
open, friendly and pragmatic policy towards its closest neighbors
– Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan.