I welcoming remarks

participating countries with their accession to the European
Union was developed. The Visegrad mechanism continues to
work even after its participants joined the European Union on
May 1, 2004. We can talk about other formats and mechanisms
for regional cooperation, for example, the idea of creating a free
trade zone proposed by Uzbekistan in the early 2000s on the basis
of the Central Asian Union.
These types of formats can be mainly tasked with:
- optimization and rational use of natural, water-energy
and mineral resources, as well as the human potential of the
Central Asian nations in the interests of each participating
country and the whole region;

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- formation of a unified strategy of the Central Asian
countries to create a favorable investment climate and conditions
for attracting foreign investments to the region.
These formats can also envisage cooperation in the field
of transport and transit, which imply the adoption of a single
unified, mutually agreed system of customs tariffs, convergence
of national legislations in the relevant areas, establishment of a
common market for Central Asian countries.

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Critical Aspects of Regional Cooperation in Ensuring
Security and Stability in Central Asia
Vladimir Norov, Director of the Institute for Strategic and
Interregional Studies under the President of the Republic of
Uzbekistan
Wholeheartedly supporting one of the fundamental
principles of the UN, namely, the principle of the indivisibility of
regional and global security, the Central Asian states undertake
concerted efforts to deliver conditions for enhancing interstate
cooperation both at the bilateral and multilateral levels.
As the President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev
stated, in the most difficult periods of modern history, in our
region, unlike many others, it was possible to preserve peace and
stability, avoid escalating local conflicts into interstate
confrontation.
To date, positive expertise has been garnered in the joint
solution of intra-regional security problems in various realms. In