Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- Today, on 14 September, a two-day scientific and practical conference on the theme: "The contribution of the Leaders of Uzbekistan and Tajikistan to strengthening friendship, good-neighborliness and trust, opening a new page of the Tajik-Uzbek strategic partnership" began in Dushanbe.

The event, organized at the initiative of the National Academy of Sciences of Tajikistan and the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Uzbekistan in the National Library of Tajikistan, brought together leaders, prominent scientists and leading experts of research, analytical structures and higher educational institutions of the two countries. The Uzbek delegation is headed by the first deputy speaker of the Legislative Chamber of the Oliy Majlis, academician A. Saidov.

Speaking at the plenary session, the director of the ISMI, Eldor Aripov, noted that the event being held is an important and significant event, and its name very clearly reflects the spirit of today’s Uzbek-Tajik cooperation.

Access to a qualitatively new level of friendly and good-neighborly relations between the countries, according to the representative of the ISMI, is, first of all, the result of political will, high level of trust and strategic vision of the presidents of Uzbekistan and Tajikistan.

The systemic reset of relations with Dushanbe is also a vivid example of the successful implementation in practice of the foreign policy course of President Sh.Mirziyoyev, who has made the Central Asian region his main priority.

According to E. Aripov, the dialogue at the highest level is intense and ongoing. In particular, in 2018, for the first time in the history of bilateral relations, an exchange of mutual state visits took place.

In general, since September 2016, the heads of Uzbekistan and Tajikistan have met on the sidelines of various summits about 15 times.

In a short time, the countries have achieved unprecedented breakthroughs in almost all areas.

Since 2015, mutual trade has almost tripled. Moreover, despite the pandemic, in 7 months of this year we have already sold more than in the entire 2015 or 2016.

The number of joint ventures is growing - since 2017, the number of joint ventures in Uzbekistan has almost quadrupled. It is indicative that if in 2017 there was 1 enterprise in Uzbekistan with 100% Tajik capital, today there are already 70 of them, and there are more than 170 joint ventures in total.

Accordingly, last year the volume of traffic between Uzbekistan and Tajikistan by road alone increased by 60%. Since 2017, NJSC "Uzbekiston Havo Yollari" has increased the transportation of goods in the Tajik direction by 6 times.

Even such seemingly insurmountable and sensitive issues as the border and the water-energy sphere received their solution.

The most important thing, as E. Aripov stressed, all these changes were felt by ordinary citizens. For the first time in many years, they had the opportunity to freely and freely visit their relatives and friends. About 20 thousand people cross the Uzbek-Tajik border every day. Three years ago there were only 3-3.5 thousand people.

All this became possible thanks to one main condition - the establishment of a confidential political dialogue at the highest level, which is based on the centuries-old history of joint and friendly residence of our peoples.

As the President of Uzbekistan Sh.Mirziyoyev justly noted, “The Uzbek and Tajik peoples are like two branches of one tree, two tributaries of one river. We must strengthen and protect the friendship of our peoples”.

Now we have all the components so that the relations between Tashkent and Dushanbe could serve as an "exemplary model" of how successful interaction between the two countries should be built,” E. Aripov said.

Uzbekistan and Tajikistan have shown in practice that acute problems and contradictions can and should not be an obstacle, but a subject for dialogue and negotiations. This is a very important formula that can be applied by other countries in the region. Ultimately, stability and prosperity in Central Asia will develop from trusting relationships between all countries in the region.

Only by solving all acute contradictions between the countries of Central Asia will we be able to strengthen stability

in our region, to create conditions for the implementation of mutually beneficial joint projects in the field of infrastructure, energy, transport. In turn, such projects can become drivers of the development of our countries, increasing their attractiveness for foreign investors, - added the representative of ISMI.

In conclusion, E. Aripov stressed that it is important for Uzbek-Tajik relations to maintain a high level of mutual understanding and trust, to remain an example of the development of mutually beneficial cooperation for other countries of the region.

The conference continues, in addition to plenary sessions, sectional meetings are also envisaged, at which scientists and experts of the two countries will discuss a wide range of issues of bilateral cooperation.