These positive dynamics in Central Asia are
unprecedented since the regional states gained
independence, and they have now reached a qualitatively
new level of regional cooperation.
IMPLICATIONS: There are two main reasons for these
recent developments. First, the Central Asian states gained
their independence during the disintegration of the bipolar
world order, associated with the emergence of new
challenges and threats to stability, increased geopolitical
rivalry, and escalated armed confrontation in neighboring
regions. In addition, the heavy burden of internal political,
socio-economic, ideological and other problems that the
Central Asian countries faced in the 1990s and the subsequent period exacerbated the security
situation in the region 2 . The newly independent Central Asian states were preoccupied with vital
issues of state building and the search for identity in a globalized world. All regional states lacked
experience both in domestic and foreign affairs and had to focus on their own problems, as well as
on the most acute security threats. Yet over time, the Central Asian states have proven to be able to
strengthened their political systems and administrative institutions, and elaborating their own
models of national development. Through their integration into the international community, the
Central Asian countries have gained experience in devising foreign policies capable of
accommodating the strategic prospects and advantages of regional cooperation in the globalized
world.
Second, over the two years since Mirziyoyev’s ascendance to power, Uzbekistan has pursued
a new regional policy in Central Asia, which has served to defuse the country’s conflicts with its
neighbors. The Central Asian countries currently express a firm readiness for constructive changes
in bilateral and multilateral relations. The states of the region now concentrate on consolidating their
efforts to increase their competitiveness in the world and to strengthen the region’s unity.
According to the Uzbek Foreign Ministry, all the Central Asian countries’ leading partners,
including Russia, China, the U.S. and the EU, actively participated in the consultations on drafting
the document. The adoption of the UN resolution on Central Asia gained unanimous support from
countries representing all the continents of the world, namely Australia, North and South America,
Asia, Africa and Europe. Thereby, the international community expressed its firm and unconditional
support for the Central Asian countries’ efforts to deepen regional cooperation, which is one of the
most important preconditions for stability and development of the region 3 .
Indeed, Central Asia’s security is integral to global security. In the current period when other
regions of the world undergo political tensions and conflict, the strategic prospect of regional
cooperation in Central Asia is particularly important for international security. Growing uncertainty,
turbulence and imbalances in the global economy require Central Asian states to undertake closer,
coordinated interaction to implement common regional development projects.
The international community, including the regional states, recognizes that only a stable,
dynamically developing and prosperous Central Asia can become an attractive, constructive and
long-term partner. If the Central Asian countries prove successful in realizing this vision for their
region, Central Asia can become a new geopolitical laboratory of stability and peace in Eurasia.
CONCLUSIONS: The UN resolution on Central Asia marked the entry of the Central Asian
countries into a new era of interstate relations. It signaled that the Central Asian states have
embarked on a decisive course towards regional cooperation, with the support of the international
community. These changes in regional dynamics have encouraged international partners to
fundamentally reconsider their approaches to Central Asia, and indeed strengthened the prospect
Uzbekistan’s foreign policy is a regional policy, http://thehill.com/opinion/international/361449-uzbekistans-foreign-policv-is-a-regional-
policv. 22 November of 2017
3 A.Kazantsev The Uzbek leader in the United States: what stands behind the multi-vectoredness of Tashkent, 19 May of 2018,
http://afghanistan.ru/doc/120816.html
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