[CONTRIBUTION] Uzbek-Kyrgyz summit, indicator of latest tendencies in Central Asia

The state go to of the Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev to Kyrgyzstan ended Jan. 27. Undoubtedly, the importance of its outcomes will go down within the historical past of bilateral relations. Furthermore, they mark a brand new stage within the technique of regional cooperation. I might even say that the importance of the outcomes of the go to goes past the area and will even play an vital position in stabilizing your entire system of worldwide relations.

There are good causes for such an assertion. In the course of the go to, an finish was lastly put to the problem of settling the state border, which for a few years was a supply of interstate stress holding again full potential of bilateral cooperation. Furthermore, the go to served as a pretext for positioning the area as a hotbed of everlasting instability.

This had a unfavorable impression on the efforts of Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan to draw funding and implement long-term plans for sustainable improvement. Earlier, Uzbekistan settled the problem of delimitation of borders with Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and closed the problem of demarcation with Kazakhstan. This, after all, is an enormous breakthrough and can turn out to be a brand new place to begin to type a brand new structure not just for bilateral, but in addition for regional cooperation.

As well as, throughout the go to, the events confirmed agency political will to proceed joint work on the implementation of tasks for the development of the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway, in addition to the Kambarata HPP-1.

Furthermore, the events signed an funding settlement on the implementation of the Kambarata-1 mission, agreed on the development of small hydroelectric energy vegetation, together with on the Chatkal River in Kyrgyzstan.

An settlement on the joint manufacturing of vehicles, constructing supplies, pharmaceutical merchandise and medicines, knitted materials, clothes and knitwear, yarn, coal, electrical engineering, and agricultural merchandise has turn out to be extraordinarily vital.

All of those tasks, which complement related agreements beforehand reached with different neighboring international locations, can act as triggers for the event of many sectors of the financial system not solely of particular person international locations, however of your entire area. They may make it doable to unlock the massive manufacturing, transport, logistics and power potential of Central Asia, guarantee sustainable improvement and integration of the area into worldwide worth chains.

Typically, the outcomes of the Uzbekistan-Kyrgyzstan Summit in Bishkek permit us to attract a number of vital conclusions.

First, the international locations of Central Asia are actively forcing the formation of a brand new regional mannequin of financial cooperation. There’s a transition from commodity change to deeper financial integration by way of the event of business cooperation primarily based on the usage of aggressive benefits and complementarity of the economies of the states of the area. This contributes to the event of producing merchandise with a better stage of business processing and added worth, which in flip makes it doable to switch costly imports in home markets, in addition to enter the markets of third international locations with extra aggressive merchandise, and relieve the financial system of the Central Asian states from dependence on uncooked materials exports. It additionally will increase the soundness of the markets of our states within the face of exterior elements brought on by the disruption and rises in the price of manufacturing and provide chains, volatility in costs for meals and power merchandise. An interconnected self-sufficient capacious market, an area for industrial and technological improvement is being fashioned within the area.

The joint use of the hydropower potential of the area will turn out to be an vital step not solely towards creating a standard power market, but in addition growing the competitiveness of the Central Asian financial system on the planet market. The event of trade primarily based on the usage of clear power with a low share of fossil fuels is a aggressive benefit for the area within the context of a inexperienced transformation and a gradual pattern within the transition of most international locations to a low-carbon financial system.

Second, within the context of rising geopolitical tensions, lack of belief and lack of dialogue in worldwide relations, which exacerbates interstate conflicts, Central Asia demonstrates excessive duty for the way forward for the area, depends on diplomacy and the seek for mutually acceptable compromises on all complicated key points for the sake of normal safety and prosperity. This reveals the maturity of the political elites of the Central Asian states, their readiness to construct a overseas coverage within the pursuits of the peoples of their states, which turn out to be the last word beneficiaries of the Central Asian rapprochement.

That is confirmed by the financial indicators of the area. Thus, the entire overseas commerce turnover of Central Asia in the present day has reached about $200 billion, exhibiting a rise of sixty p.c in comparison with 2016. On the identical time, the share of intra-regional commerce elevated twice, overcoming the mark of 10 p.c. The influx of overseas investments into the area can be rising. So, whereas in 2019-2020 worldwide, overseas direct funding inflows decreased by thirty-five p.c, in Central Asia there was a rise, even within the pandemic 12 months of 2020 by 3 p.c, and in 2021 by seventy-one p.c. Typically, over this era, the share of investments in Central Asia within the whole quantity on the planet elevated from 1.6 p.c to 2.5 p.c. Consequently, the expansion fee of regional gross home manufacturing lately was inside 6 p.c, by the top of 2022, in response to preliminary estimates, might be greater than 4 p.c, and in 2023 it’s anticipated at a stage of about 5 p.c. This can carry the area’s GDP to $400 billion, virtually twice as a lot as in 2010.

It’s apparent that the method chosen by Central Asia to constructing interstate relations, primarily based on the rules of mutual respect and consideration of pursuits, good neighborliness and mutually useful cooperation, in the present day justifies itself, is in nice demand in worldwide relations and, as a mannequin, can affect different areas of the world as a multiplicative impact.

Third, in the present day we’re witnessing a brand new pattern – the strengthening of Central Asian id. That is mirrored within the statements of the leaders of the states of the area that each one efforts to develop good neighborly relations are geared toward turning Central Asia into an area of safety, stability and customary prosperity.

This additionally manifests itself in mutual acts of solidarity. So, in a pandemic, for instance, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan assisted one another. Uzbekistan despatched humanitarian support to Kyrgyzstan 4 occasions and constructed 3 modular infectious illnesses hospitals (in Kadamjai district of Batken area, Bishkek metropolis and Chui area). In flip, throughout the human-made catastrophe on the Sardoba reservoir, Kyrgyzstan offered humanitarian assist to the victims.

All this additionally means that the Central Asian rapprochement is a fait accompli. The states overcome “nationwide egoisms” and notice that solely collectively, it’s doable to achieve the trajectory of sustainable progress and new frontiers of joint improvement.

The Central Asian states in the present day are collectively forming a brand new paradigm of perceiving the area as an integral, interconnected, not solely politically but in addition economically cohesive house.

That is now not a “powder keg,” however an area for sustainable improvement and mutually useful cooperation. And this considerably will increase the worldwide subjectivity of Central Asia, making it extra proof against exterior and inside challenges.

Akramjon Nematov is first deputy director of the Institute for Strategic and Regional Research beneath the president of the Republic of Uzbekistan. Views expressed on this article are his personal. — Ed.

By Sanjay Kumar (sanjaykumar@heraldcorp.com)