Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) - On 27 May 2022, the meeting of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council was not just a traditional “synchronization of watches” of the EAEU member states, but also made it possible to outline the contours of future practical interaction both within the Organization and in a kind of EAEU plus format. From this point of view, the proposals voiced by the President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev during the last meeting form a qualitatively new groundwork for expanding the Eurasian trade and economic partnership.

Having received observer status in the EAEU, Uzbekistan began to better understand the processes occurring within the framework of this economic association and gradually adapt the regulatory requirements for trade with the Union states. In this regard, the movement towards deepening cooperation between Uzbekistan and the EAEU countries is quite natural, in demand and economically determined.

Uzbekistan, having such a large-scale economic, resource and human potential, is becoming one of the key assets in the Eurasian integration agenda. At the same time, it is necessary to pay attention to the fact that our significant participation in the activities of the EAEU is pragmatic, and the initiatives put forward by the country, taking into account not only national interests, but also the interests of our neighboring countries, are aimed at increasing the stability of regional ties. 

One of the most important and timely in the context of the current crisis in the food sector is Uzbekistan’s initiative to launch an anti-crisis agricultural cooperation program. Its implementation will provide additional stability of food markets to global fluctuations in prices for agricultural products and strengthen food security throughout the post-Soviet space. 

It is important that our partners in the EAEU are equally interested with us in creating an efficient and sustainable transport infrastructure in the region. The readiness voiced by Shavkat Mirziyoyev for cooperation within the framework of the EAEU on the implementation of transport initiatives is highly likely to revive the interest of other countries in participating in the implementation of logistics projects.

Thus, building up cooperation on the implementation of the project for the construction of the trans-Afghan railway from Termez to Peshawar will be able to multiply the economic activity of the Eurasian countries and increase business mobility.

In general, the initiatives put forward by our country within the framework of the EAEU are quite capable of serving as a good basis for further expanding economic ties between its participants. Their content allows us to say that Uzbekistan stands for a qualitative dimension of partnership and suggests focusing on such characteristics of interaction as “pragmatism and constructiveness”. At the same time, we expect that the initiatives promoted by Uzbekistan on the platform of the Eurasian Union in the future will form the basis for future practical solutions to pressing problematic issues and “pull up” other countries to this process.