Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- Assessing the results of Uzbekistan’s chairmanship in the CIS, we can say with confidence that despite the difficult epidemiological situation, which complicated the work of many regional and international organizations, Uzbekistan has carried out very fruitful and effective work within the framework of the Commonwealth.

In accordance with the Concept of Uzbekistan’s chairmanship in the CIS, meetings of the Council of Heads of Government, the Council of Foreign Ministers, the Economic Council of the CIS, about 60 meetings of sectoral cooperation bodies, including the Council for Cooperation in the Field of Health, the Council for Humanitarian Cooperation, were held, more than a thousand issues were considered, over 70 important multilateral documents were adopted.

In 2020, Uzbekistan joined three CIS bodies: the Council for Youth Affairs, the Advisory Council for Labor, Employment and Social Protection of the Population, the Advisory Council for the Protection of Consumer Rights, expanding in general the range of its interaction with the Commonwealth member states within the framework of 39 sectoral cooperation bodies.

However, clear evidence of the effectiveness of Uzbekistan’s chairmanship is the agreement and adoption in the outgoing year of a solid package of conceptual and strategic documents that form a basis for long-term and mutually beneficial cooperation within the CIS in such priority areas as politics, economy, security, culture, tourism, adapted to new realities. sports, youth policy, innovative development.

In particular, strategies for the development of cooperation in tourism, physical culture and sports, youth policy for 2021-2030, an agreement on interaction in the field of digital development of society, as well as the concept of military cooperation until 2025, interregional and cross-border cooperation until 2030 are of current importance for sustainable development in the CIS space.

Special attention should be paid to the CIS Economic Development Strategy for the period up to 2030, which is aimed at consistently building up mutually beneficial cooperation between the CIS member states in more than 30 areas of economic interaction, increasing the competitiveness of national economies and the welfare of citizens of the Commonwealth countries, strengthening the positions of its member states in the global economy. connections.

A significant contribution to the practical implementation of this strategy was the approval by the Council of Heads of Government of the Commonwealth in May 2020 of the Priority Areas of Cooperation of the CIS member states in the field of transport for the period up to 2030.

This program document, initiated earlier by the President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev, envisages a coordinated policy to form a common transport space and increase the competitiveness of transport corridors in the CIS countries, their integration into the European and Asian transport systems.

The most important achievement of the chairmanship of Uzbekistan in the CIS was the adoption of the Concept for the further development of the CIS for the coming decade, which stipulates the implementation of agreed measures to improve the organizational and legal mechanisms of cooperation in the political, economic, humanitarian, cultural and other fields and the formation in the long term of an integrated economic and political association. ensuring the effective development of each of its participants.

The value of the concept lies in the fact that it was developed based on the objective interests of the CIS member states in creating favorable conditions for the further development of national economies and ensuring security, strengthening the well-being of citizens, involvement in world political, socio-cultural and economic processes, provides for the adaptation of structures, forms and methods of work of the CIS to new tasks of the dynamically developing world.

In addition, in the year of its chairmanship, Uzbekistan carried out purposeful work to agree and adopt the Program of Cooperation of the CIS Member States in Strengthening Border Security at External Borders for 2021-2025, as well as the Interstate Program for the Development of Innovative Cooperation of the CIS Member States until 2030, aimed to strengthen the innovation component of economic growth based on the development of the interstate innovation space.

Coordinated work on the development and adoption of the above conceptual and program documents of medium and long-term nature once again confirms the common strategic interests and development goals of the CIS member states, their interest in further expanding and deepening equal, mutually beneficial and multifaceted cooperation on a wide range of issues.

In this regard, the initiatives of the President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev, voiced during the Summit of the Heads of State of the CIS member states held on 18 December, are of particular relevance, such as the adoption, within the framework of the Commonwealth of the "Road Map" for the development of electronic commerce, the cooperation on labor migration issues, the Program of Cooperation in the field of deradicalization, holding the "CIS Health Marathon" and others.

The implementation of these initiatives aimed at the practical implementation of the adopted strategic and conceptual documents will make it possible to fully use the huge potential of the CIS member states, consolidate common efforts to ensure sustainable and progressive development in the Commonwealth in the post-crisis period.

This, in turn, will confirm the viability of the Commonwealth as an effective mechanism of multilateral cooperation, its readiness to adapt to new realities, the common desire of the CIS member states to steadily improve the welfare, level and quality of life of the population of our countries.

In general, Uzbekistan, having stepped up its participation in the Commonwealth, once again declared its firm commitment to the development of multilateral cooperation, and the high results achieved under the chairmanship of Uzbekistan in the CIS testify to the full support of the participating states in combining our country’s efforts to deepen practical partnership in all areas. political, economic and humanitarian cooperation, ensuring stability and sustainable development in the space of the Commonwealth of Independent States.

First Deputy Director of the Institute for Strategic and Interregional Studies under the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Akramjon Nematov