Tashkent hosted a conference on “Uzbekistan – Germany: New horizons of cooperation”.

Director of the Institute for Strategic and Regional Studies under the President of Uzbekistan (ISRS) Eldor Aripov addressed the event.

Mr. Aripov noted that the event was timed to coincide with the visit of the President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev to Germany. The upcoming referendum will let to consolidate the legal guarantees of the irreversibility and sustainability of the process of democratic reforms launched by the President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev, which were widely supported by the population.

“Our country is on the eve of an important political event – a referendum on constitutional reform, which will actually launch the process of a fundamental reset of the political system of Uzbekistan”, Mr. Aripov said. – Its essence lies in strengthening the political and legal foundations of a democratic constitutional state, with a socially oriented market economy and a strong civil society.

We are aware that with the adoption of the new edition of the Constitution, we will not remove all the issues, we still have to work hard to implement new constitutional provisions into real life. And in fact, this means launching a new long-term development program that will require the mobilization of all available resources, political will, potential, and knowledge. And in this matter, we certainly seek the support of our partners, especially those states that have an undeniably rich and successful experience in this area. The conference is taking place on the eve of the official visit of the President of Uzbekistan to Germany. Germany is undoubtedly one of the key and time-tested partners of Uzbekistan. We highly appreciate that Germany, which was among the first to recognize the independence of Uzbekistan, for over 30 years, has been providing us with effective support in sustainable development and strengthening of our sovereignty. It is gratifying to note that in recent years cooperation between our countries has become even more progressive. 

Germany is one of the five largest trade and investment partners of Uzbekistan. For the first time in 30 years, trade between Uzbekistan and Germany has exceeded one billion dollars, having doubled over the past six years. The presence of German business in Uzbekistan is also growing and, accordingly, the volume of implemented German investments has doubled – from 700 million to 1.5 billion dollars.  Germany is the largest supplier of modern machinery and equipment necessary for the modernization of our economy.

All this is an important contribution to the sustainable development of Uzbekistan.

Bekhruz Khudoyberdiyev, UzA

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