The second meeting of the Kazakhstan-Uzbekistan Expert Council was held online on August 28, 2024. The event was organized by the Kazakhstan Institute for Strategic Studies under the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan together with the Institute for Strategic and Interregional Studies under the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan.
To recap, the first meeting of the Kazakhstan-Uzbekistan Expert Council took place at KazISS on August 2 of this year, and the memorandum establishing the council was signed on August 8 during the state visit of President of the Republic of Uzbekistan to the Republic of Kazakhstan. The signing ceremony of the memorandum took place in the presence of the heads of the two states – President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev and President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev.
The Kazakhstan-Uzbekistan Expert Council is intended to serve as a platform for building dialogue between the expert communities of Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan on a regular and systematic basis, discussing relevant issues of bilateral Kazakhstan-Uzbekistan cooperation, and generating ideas to find effective mechanisms for joint development.
The agenda of the second meeting included discussions on the implementation of the Strategic Partnership and Alliance Program between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan for 2024-2034, and its impact on further strengthening comprehensive cooperation. The prospects for interparliamentary cooperation, in the context of establishing an Interparliamentary Forum, and practical measures to enhance cooperation in the field of security were also discussed.
The Director of the Kazakhstan Institute for Strategic Studies under the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Yerkin Tukumov, highlighted the transition of Kazakhstan-Uzbekistan intergovernmental relations to the stage of alliance and the active implementation of regional integration potential.
“In this regard, I would like to particularly highlight the article by our President Kassym-Jomart Kemelovich Tokayev, ‘The Renaissance of Central Asia: Towards Sustainable Development and Prosperity.’ In this article, our Head of State emphasizes that the Central Asian region has become a self-sufficient and influential participant in the evolving international system. It has created a space of trust and collective indivisible security in the region amid global geopolitical turbulence, removed barriers hindering regional cooperation, and laid the foundation for elevating our multifaceted cooperation to a qualitatively higher level,” emphasized Yerkin Tukumov.
The Director of the Institute for Strategic and Interregional Studies under the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan (ISRS), Eldor Aripov, in his speech addressed issues related to advancing and implementing the initiatives previously proposed at the summits by the presidents of both countries. It was suggested to conduct an inventory of all proposed measures for regional cooperation.
The agenda for the planned events to be held in Uzbekistan was also discussed, including the Regional Conference on Water Diplomacy and the Scientific Forum dedicated to practical aspects of forming regional identity.
In addition, Eldor Aripov proposed developing a Work Plan for the Kazakhstan-Uzbekistan Expert Council.
In response, Yerkin Tukumov suggested forming the council’s composition and establishing a pool of experts from both sides to give an institutional character to the council’s work.
As priority topics for discussion at the Council, the Director of the Kazakhstan Institute for Strategic Studies proposed the need to develop a joint position on Afghanistan, water-climate security for Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, harmonizing the approaches of the two countries in this area amid climate changes, and launching new transportation routes from the perspective of complementarity between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan in forming economic corridors from West to East and North to South.
Additionally, the meeting participants discussed mechanisms to increase mutual trade volumes – with the goal of reaching $10 billion in trade turnover between the two countries – as well as prospective areas for economic cooperation and mechanisms for volume growth. The council reviewed the outcomes of the recent business forum and meetings held during the state visit of the President of Uzbekistan, and also discussed the prospects for creating a Joint Fund to financially support promising projects.
During the second session of the Kazakhstan-Uzbekistan Expert Council, speeches were made by the Director of the International Institute for Central Asia, Javlon Vakhabov; the Head of the Political Research Center at the Institute of Philosophy, Political Science, and Religious Studies of the Ministry of Education and Science of Kazakhstan, Aidar Amrebayev; the Deputy Director of KazISS, Nurlan Sakuov; the Director of the Institute for Macroeconomic and Regional Studies under the Cabinet of Ministers of Uzbekistan, Umid Abidzhodzhayev; the Director of the Information and Analytical Center for International Relations, Sanjar Valiev; and the Dean of the Faculty of International Relations at Al-Farabi Kazakh National University, Leila Delovarova.
