Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- On 28 February, an international conference on the topic: “Uzbekistan and China: promoting mutually beneficial cooperation for the benefit of the peoples of the two countries” was held in Tashkent, dedicated to the results of the state visit of the President of Uzbekistan to the PRC.

Director of the Institute of Strategic and Interregional Studies (ISMI) under the President of Uzbekistan Eldor Aripov spoke as a speaker at a panel session on the topic: “All-weather comprehensive strategic partnership: a new stage in relations between Uzbekistan and China.”

In his report, the expert analyzed the key results of the summit of the leaders of the two countries.

Speaking about the high effectiveness of the state visit of the President of Uzbekistan, Eldor Aripov highlighted several main elements.

Firstly, the significant event of the visit was the raising of Uzbek-Chinese relations to the level of an all-weather comprehensive strategic partnership in a new era, which, according to the director of ISMI, is quite logical.

“Over the past time, we have come quite a long way. We have formed a very strong contractual and legal basis for bilateral cooperation, numbering about three hundred documents,” the expert concluded.

In addition, in his opinion, an active political dialogue has been established at the intergovernmental, interparliamentary and interdepartmental levels.

With the adoption of the Joint Statement, relations are brought to such a high level of political trust that they will remain stable, regardless of the dynamics of the international situation.

Secondly, the summit of the leaders of the two countries confirmed that Uzbek-Chinese relations are based on the principle of mutual interest.

As Eldor Aripov emphasized, “our agenda is built outside of any geopolitical situation and has a purely pragmatic context.”

All agreements reached and signed, based on the results of negotiations at the highest level, pursue specific results and are focused on solving socio-economic problems and improving the well-being of the population. In particular, these documents provide for the expansion of imports of agricultural products from Uzbekistan, the introduction of water-saving technologies, training in the field of poverty reduction and much more.

In this context, they are largely aimed at supporting the reforms promoted by President Shavkat Mirziyoyev as part of the construction of the New Uzbekistan.

Thirdly, the visit demonstrated the establishment of cooperation between the two countries in fundamentally new areas.

Thus, as a result of high-level negotiations, an agreement was reached to intensify cooperation in the field of e-commerce.

According to Eldor Aripov, in 2022 the volume of online sales in China amounted to about US$2 trillion. The development of these sites by our manufacturers will open up enormous opportunities for them to develop the Chinese market.

This will give a powerful impetus to the development of many sectors of the economy of Uzbekistan.

A new promising area of interaction between the two countries, according to the director of ISMI, is cooperation in the field of electric vehicles.

Over the past three years, sales of these vehicles in Uzbekistan have increased 10 times. China’s share of total car imports increased from 36% to 80%.

It was emphasized with satisfaction that during the state visit, Shavkat Mirziyoyev and the head of BYD jointly launched a project to assemble electric and hybrid cars in the Jizzakh region. It is noteworthy that this will be BYD’s first joint production outside of China.

Fourthly, following the results of the interregional forum in Urumqi, the Council of Regions of Uzbekistan and China was established.

According to Eldor Aripov, “this is a very important step that will allow maintaining interaction between regions not from forum to forum, but on an ongoing basis.”

“Direct ties between the regions of the two countries essentially act as strong connecting mechanisms that ensure the practical implementation of cooperation in all areas,” the expert concluded.

The conference, organized by the International Institute of Central Asia jointly with the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in Uzbekistan in cooperation with the Information Science Institute under the President of Uzbekistan and the chambers of commerce and industry of the two countries, was attended by heads and experts of leading research institutes of Uzbekistan and the People’s Republic of China, as well as representatives of Chinese companies in our country.