The Director of the National Institute for Strategic Studies under the President of the Kyrgyz Republic Kanatbek Aziz addressed the conference on “Perspective areas for the development of strategic partnership between Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan”, in Tashkent, UzA reports.
The Kyrgyz expert, first of all, noted the solid legal basis on which relations between Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan are built. In particular, Kanatbek Aziz highlighted the Eternal Friendship Treaty between the Republic of Uzbekistan and the Kyrgyz Republic of December 1996 and the Declaration on Strategic Partnership, Strengthening Friendship, Good Neighborliness and Trust of October 2017, which lay down the basic principles of bilateral cooperation.
In this context, the Director of the National Institute for Strategic Studies under the President of the Kyrgyz Republic emphasized that thanks to the efforts of the Presidents of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev and Kyrgyzstan Sadyr Zhaparov, relations between the countries are filled with concrete steps.
Border issues that had been a stumbling block for more than 30 years were resolved – an Agreement was signed between the Republic of Uzbekistan and the Kyrgyz Republic on certain sections of Uzbekistan – Kyrgyzstan state border. According to the Kyrgyz expert, this historic event should serve as an impetus for both countries to further address other important issues of both bilateral and regional cooperation.
In addition, Mr. Kanatbek Aziz emphasized the achievements in building up trade, economic and investment cooperation. In particular, he emphasized the six-fold increase – up to 291 over the past 5 years, in the number of enterprises with Kyrgyz capital in Uzbekistan. “This indicates that Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan are implementing investment projects both at the private and state levels”, the expert stated.
At the same time, the Director of the National Institute for Strategic Studies focused on the fact that an active political dialogue at the highest level also served as an impetus for intensifying interaction between strategic institutions and think tanks of the two countries. “In particular, this sets new tasks for our structures to openly discuss the positions of the countries of the regions on issues of mutual interest to develop specific practical proposals”.
The conference, organized by ISRS jointly with the National Institute for Strategic Studies under the President of the Kyrgyz Republic, was attended by experts from leading scientific and analytical centers, as well as ministries and agencies of the two countries.
The participants of the event exchanged views on the results of cooperation between Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan achieved in recent years, outlined prospects for further strengthening interaction in the political-diplomatic, trade-economic, cultural-humanitarian spheres.
