The leaders of the states in Central and South Asia held an international conference in the capital of Uzbekistan. At the meeting forty-four countries were represented – thirty-seven of them by a delegation headed by their Foreign Ministers and fifteen by a parliamentary delegation. Furthermore, twenty-nine international organizations were also represented by their leaders. Baghdad Amreyev, the Secretary General of the Turkic Council, also visited the event, and the Representation Office of the organization in Budapest was represented by Ambassador János Hóvári, the Head of the Office.
The event can be called historic, since it was for the first time that the leaders of Central and South Asia held a joint meeting. By today the world has entered the era of global geopolitical transformation, which entails challenges and new opportunities as well. In his opening remarks at the Forum, the President of Uzbekistan, Shavkat Mirziyoyev stated that in such circumstances the enlivening of the relations between Central and South Asia – where about two billion people live – becomes an even more important process. The President added: the work of the Forum is taking place in an important historic phase of the development of Uzbekistan. The country is consistently conducting systematic democratic reforms in all the fields of public life. And these reforms are large scale and irreversible. The main achievement of the foreign policy of Uzbekistan has become the cardinal change in its relations with the Central Asian countries – Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan. At the Forum, the President of Uzbekistan summarized the changes by saying that with common efforts they had managed to build new relations in the region, based on confidence and mutual support.
At the Conference, Shavkat Mirziyoyev presented a package of concrete proposals. It consists of regular meetings, the project of a railway line connecting Uzbekistan with Afghanistan and Pakistan, the development of tourism by launching common brands and tour lines, joint efforts against crime and drug trafficking, cultural relations, the development of technology and innovation, as well as the protection of the environment and joint research work.
This was the aspect that was highlighted by Josep Borrell, the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy (HR/VP). He predicted that an Afghanistan stifled by chaos would exert a great impact on the whole region, since besides endangering regional security, it would contribute to the spread of radical thoughts.
Hungary and Uzbekistan have recently concluded an agreement on strategic cooperation. The objective of the agreement is that more opportunities should be created for the Hungarian companies to join the modernization of the country which is one of the fastest growing economies in the Central Asian region.
