Uzbekistan: priority areas of cooperation within regional organizations

Uzbekistan: priority areas of cooperation within regional organizations
At a briefing held on December 22 at AOKA, Deputy Director of the Center for Economic Research and Reforms, Umid Abidkhodjayev, spoke about important achievements of Uzbekistan in developing friendly, mutually beneficial relations with a wide range of foreign partners.

Today, a briefing was held at the AOKA press room with the participation of the deputy director of the Center for Economic Research and Reforms under the Administration of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Umid Abidkhodjayev. It presented important information related to the issues of international cooperation of our country .

In recent years, Uzbekistan has made significant progress in developing friendly, mutually beneficial relations with a wide range of foreign partners. The open, constructive and practical foreign policy conducted under the leadership of President Shavkat Mirziyoyev made it possible to significantly strengthen effective relations with countries in almost all regions of the world, as well as with leading international and regional organizations.

In particular, Uzbekistan's cooperation within regional institutions such as the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) has reached a new level in terms of quality.

The participation of our country in the activities of the Cooperation Council of Turkic-Speaking Countries (TCCC), which became a member in 2019, has become a new direction of multilateral diplomacy of Tashkent.

In addition, this year Uzbekistan received the status of an observer state within the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU).

Cooperation within the Commonwealth of Independent States

In recent years, our country has significantly intensified its participation in the activities of the Commonwealth. Uzbekistan joined the Economic Council of the CIS, the Inter-Parliamentary Assembly of the Commonwealth and more than 20 branch bodies. Efforts are being made to establish cooperation with other branch bodies whose goals meet national interests.

Commonwealth member states are Uzbekistan's main trading partners. In the 9th month of 2020, the volume of the republic's trade with the CIS countries was 8,059.5 million dollars, and its share in the total foreign trade turnover was 29.3 percent.

The Uzbek side is interested in developing trade and economic cooperation with the CIS countries based on the full use of the existing economic potential of Uzbekistan, including the expansion of the diversification of the range of supply and production products.

Uzbekistan attaches great importance to deepening cooperation with the CIS countries in the field of transport and transit, including the granting of mutual benefits and preferences for the development of transport corridors, as well as the formation and development of new mutually beneficial transport routes.

Despite the difficult situation in the world related to the coronavirus pandemic, a number of important events took place during the presidency of Uzbekistan. Among them, the Council of Heads of Government, the Economic Council, the Council of Foreign Ministers, the Coordinating Council dedicated to the problems of sanitary protection of the territories of the CIS countries from the import and spread of extremely dangerous infectious diseases, the Interstate Council for Cooperation in the Scientific, Technical and Innovative Sectors, and others separately. it should be noted.

In particular, the updated Concept for the further development of the CIS, the strategy of economic development of the Commonwealth until 2030, as well as 9 program documents in the fields of military and border cooperation, innovation, transport, culture and sports, tourism and youth cooperation were adopted.

On December 18 of this year, the Council of Heads of the Commonwealth of Independent States chaired by the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan in the form of a video conference was the final event of the presidency of Uzbekistan in the CIS.

The President of the Republic of Uzbekistan made a number of proposals for the expansion of multilateral cooperation within the Commonwealth, including:

● wide implementation of the practice of "green" and simplified corridors;

● Launching a unified platform for the development of e-commerce within the Commonwealth and adopting the "Road Map";

● Development of a comprehensive program of industrial cooperation;

● increasing the competitiveness of transport corridors, harmonizing rules and standards, conducting a coordinated tariff policy and granting mutual benefits;

● resumption of air traffic as soon as possible on a mutual basis, observing all sanitary requirements, which will help restore business, humanitarian and tourist exchanges;

● create a single mechanism for mutual recognition of documents of labor migrants and adopt a separate program in this regard;

● effective monitoring of the sanitary-epidemiological situation, monitoring of emergency situations and formation of a system of rapid response;