Uzbekistan President stresses on enhancing mutual cooperation between Central and South Asian regions

KUALA LUMPUR: Uzbekistan President Shavkat Mirziyoyev has emphasised on the importance of strengthening peace and friendship, trust and good-neighbourliness, enhancing mutually beneficial cooperation and building an open and constructive policy to meet the common interests of all states between Central and South Asia.

In his address during the International Conference titled "Central and South Asia: Regional Connectivity. Challenges and Opportunities" which was held in the capital city of Tashkent yesterday (July 16), the president has put forward several important initiatives aimed at achieving these goals.

The initiatives, among others, was to give priority to trade and economic cooperation where an annual inter-regional forum was proposed to discuss the current issues of enhancing the agenda of economic cooperation and investment interaction between the countries of the two regions.

Mirziyoyev paid special attention to the issue of building a transport and logistics infrastructure that will effectively and safely connect Central and South Asia.

"The Termez (Uzbekistan) - Mazar-i-Sharif (Afghanistan) - Kabul (Afghanistan) - Peshawar (Pakistan) railway is to become a key element of the entire architecture of the connectivity of our regions, the construction project of which has already received wide support, including from leading international financial institutions.

"The construction of this railway will make it possible to fully realise the transit potential of the two regions, form the shortest route, and significantly reduce the time and costs for the transportation of goods," he said.

Uzbekistan embassy in Malaysia made available to Bernama the important inputs of the international conference.

Besides, the Uzbekistan President also emphasised on the global urgency of the growing problem of ensuring food security.

In this regard, he proposed to hold a meeting of regional agriculture ministers under the auspices of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation to develop a joint programme of measures.

Mirziyoyev also highlighted measures to strengthen security and stability in the region, the fight against terrorism, extremism and cross-border crime, besides environmental protection and the development of a green economy.

In his speech, Mirziyoyev stressed on the historical, cultural and civilisational community of Central and South Asia, adding "the coinciding interests of the countries and peoples are a solid foundation on which we can build a common prosperous future".

"In these conditions, the revival of mutual ties between Central and South Asia, where about two billion people live today, is becoming an even more demanding and objective process.

"I think the time has come, based on the huge historical, scientific, spiritual and cultural heritage of our peoples, the complementarity of economies, the availability of intellectual potential - to consolidate our joint efforts, which will undoubtedly give a powerful synergy effect", he said.

The president also paid special attention to cooperation in science, technology and innovation. He noted the importance of encouraging joint research and exchange programmes, as well as introducing a simplified visa regime for scientists and researchers.

On the eve of the conference, the International Institute for Central Asia was opened in Tashkent. The President proposed to create an expert group on the development of regional cooperation based on this analytical centre.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres addressed the conference participants via a video message.

The conference, organised at the initiative of Mirziyoyev, was attended by the President of Afghanistan, the Prime Minister of Pakistan, the ministers of foreign affairs of Central and South Asian countries, delegations of 44 countries and about 30 international organisations, heads of authoritative research and analytical centres.

At the end of the high-level conference a joint statement by the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Central and South Asian States on the Development of Regional Connectivity was issued

-- BERNAMA