Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.uz) — Uzbekistan is promoting political dialogue, practical economic cooperation and joint efforts to address regional challenges through the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia (CICA), according to Bekzod Normatov, a leading research fellow at the Institute for Strategic and Regional Studies under the President of Uzbekistan.
The seventh CICA summit is scheduled to take place in Baku on 15 October 2026, at a time when maintaining dialogue and identifying common ground among states are becoming increasingly important amid a more complex international environment.
CICA's main advantage lies in its inclusive nature, Normatov wrote. The organization is not a military-political bloc and does not restrict the foreign policy sovereignty of its participating states. Its activities are based on consensus, voluntary participation, equality and mutual respect, allowing countries with different interests to maintain an ongoing dialogue.
Uzbekistan has consistently supported strengthening CICA's role as a platform for implementing confidence-building measures and expanding practical cooperation among Asian states. President Shavkat Mirziyoyev's approach to the organization has developed around three interconnected priorities: comprehensive security, practical multilateral cooperation and joint solutions to regional problems.
These priorities were reflected in Mirziyoyev's speeches at the CICA summits in Dushanbe in 2019 and Astana in 2022.
The first priority is a comprehensive approach to security. Uzbekistan's position is based on the view that contemporary threats cannot be addressed solely through political and security measures. State resilience also depends on human capital, opportunities for young people, education, culture and the ability to counter radicalization.
Humanitarian cooperation has therefore featured prominently in the president's speeches. Uzbekistan has contributed to advancing CICA's youth agenda, with the country's Youth Affairs Agency serving as co-chair of the organization's Youth Council. Tashkent has also assumed a coordinating role in confidence-building measures, reflecting its efforts to translate political initiatives into practical mechanisms for cooperation.
The second priority is making multilateral cooperation more practical. At the 2019 summit, Uzbekistan proposed expanding trade, supporting small and medium-sized enterprises, improving transport links and jointly addressing environmental challenges, including the consequences of the Aral Sea disaster.
By 2022, the agenda had expanded to include food security, digitalization, innovation and the development of resilient production and logistics chains. These initiatives reflect the view that shared economic and social progress can provide a material foundation for stronger trust between states.
The third priority is addressing regional problems collectively. Uzbekistan has sought to strengthen the role of multilateral mechanisms in tackling challenges that individual countries cannot resolve effectively on their own.
Afghanistan is one example. Mirziyoyev proposed considering the establishment of an international high-level negotiating group under the auspices of the United Nations. In the environmental sphere, Uzbekistan put forward the Green Asia initiative, which envisages broader expert cooperation on greening and protecting vulnerable ecosystems.
According to Normatov, these proposals aim to keep pressing regional issues on the international agenda despite growing disagreements among major powers.
Ahead of the Baku summit, the article identifies transport and economic connectivity, digitalization, sustainable development, food security and environmental protection as areas of particular importance for CICA.
The organization's effectiveness will depend in part on progress in three interconnected areas. The first is political trust, with CICA remaining an open forum for dialogue among countries with differing interests and positions amid growing geopolitical competition.
The second is economic connectivity. Transport, trade, energy, investment and digital infrastructure can build lasting links between states and create additional incentives for stable relations.
The third is humanitarian cooperation. Education, youth exchanges, culture, scientific collaboration and expert dialogue can establish foundations of trust that develop gradually and remain important despite changes in the political environment.
Uzbekistan has practical experience and initiatives in all three areas, Normatov wrote, describing the country's approach as one that links security with economic development and humanitarian dialogue.
He argued that Asia needs mechanisms for identifying common ground despite differences in national interests, rather than creating new divisions. CICA can serve this purpose by preserving space for political dialogue and enabling practical cooperation.
Normatov concluded that Uzbekistan's contribution lies in consistently advancing initiatives aimed at strengthening confidence between states and helping build a secure and prosperous future for the region.
Bekzod Normatov is a leading research fellow at the Institute for Strategic and Regional Studies under the President of Uzbekistan.
