Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev, in his address to the participants of the international conference "Afghanistan: security and economic development", held in Tashkent, stressed that the decline in world attention to Afghanistan, which is facing a deep socio-economic and humanitarian crisis in its recent history.

As the head of state noted, today the world community can and should avoid repeating the mistakes of the 1990s. “It is important to prevent the international isolation of Afghanistan, which will inevitably lead to further deterioration of the humanitarian situation. We are talking about the fate of millions of people.”

“Today, the Interim Government of Afghanistan is taking certain steps towards the peaceful development of the country, striving to improve the socio-economic situation, establish friendly relations with neighboring states, mutually beneficial cooperation with the international community. And we must encourage and support these efforts,” he stressed.

According to him, the fundamental conditions for establishing long-term peace in Afghanistan remain the formation of a broad representation of all layers of Afghan society in government, ensuring basic human rights and freedoms, especially women, and all ethnic and religious groups.

In this context, Shavkat Mirziyoyev called on the current government of Afghanistan to demonstrate strong will and take decisive measures to prevent and counter terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, to break ties with all international terrorist organizations.

“This will help strengthen confidence in the Interim Government, open up real prospects for the sustainable development of Afghanistan in an atmosphere of friendship, good neighborliness and mutually beneficial cooperation with its immediate environment and the international community,” Shavkat Mirziyoyev emphasized.

It should be reminded that special representatives for Afghanistan from more than 20 states of Central and South Asia, Europe, America, the Near and Middle East, and the Asia-Pacific region take part in the conference, organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs together with the ISMI. 

In addition, heads and specialists of international and regional organizations such as the UN, EU, FAO, ECO, OIC, SCO are represented at the conference. Among the invited leaders and experts from leading think tanks of Afghanistan’s neighboring countries, including from all countries of Central Asia, Russia, the United States, Iran, Pakistan, India and Belgium. 

In particular, among the invited "think tanks" are such structures as the Observer Research Foundation, the Institute for Defense Studies and Analysis (India), the Center for Global and Strategic Studies, the Islamabad Institute for Political Studies (Pakistan), the Johns Hopkins Institute for Central Asian and Caucasian Studies (USA), institutes for strategic studies under the presidents of Central Asian countries and others.