On February 28, Tashkent hosted an international conference "Uzbekistan and China: promoting mutually beneficial cooperation for the benefit of the peoples of the two countries" dedicated to the results of the state visit of the President of Uzbekistan to China.

Eldor Aripov, Director of the Institute for Strategic and Regional Studies (ISRS) under the President of Uzbekistan, was a speaker at the panel session on "All-Weather Comprehensive Strategic Partnership: a New Stage in Uzbekistan-China Relations".

In his report, the expert analyzed the key results of the summit of the leaders of the two countries.

Speaking about the high effectiveness of the state visit of the President of Uzbekistan, Eldor Aripov highlighted several main elements.

Firstly, the significant event of the visit was the raising of Uzbek-Chinese relations to the level of an all-weather comprehensive strategic partnership in a new era, which, according ISRS director, is quite logical.

"We have come quite a long way since then. We have formed a very solid legal framework for bilateral cooperation, which includes about three hundred documents," the expert concluded.

In addition, in his view, an active political dialog has been established at the intergovernmental, interparliamentary and interdepartmental levels.

With the adoption of the Joint Statement, relations are brought to such a high level of political trust that they will remain stable, regardless of the dynamics of the international situation.

Secondly, the summit of the leaders of the two countries confirmed that Uzbek-Chinese relations are based on the principle of mutual interest.

As Eldor Aripov emphasized, “our agenda is built outside of any geopolitical situation and has a purely pragmatic context.”

All reached and signed agreements, following the summit talks, pursue concrete results and are focused on solving socio-economic problems and improving the well-being of the population. In particular, these documents provide for the expansion of imports of agricultural products from Uzbekistan, introduction of water-saving technologies, training of personnel in the field of poverty reduction and many others.

In this context, they are largely aimed at supporting the reforms promoted by President Shavkat Mirziyoyev as part of the construction of the New Uzbekistan.

Thirdly, the visit demonstrated the establishment of cooperation between the two countries in fundamentally new areas.

Thus, as a result of high-level negotiations, an agreement was reached to intensify cooperation in the field of e-commerce.

According to Eldor Aripov, in 2022, the volume of online sales in China amounted to about $2 trillion. The exploration of these platforms by our manufacturers will open up huge opportunities for them to explore the Chinese market.

This will give a powerful impetus to the development of various sectors of Uzbekistan's economy.

According to the ISRS director, cooperation in the field of electric vehicles is becoming a new promising area of interaction between the two countries.

Over the past three years, sales of these vehicles in Uzbekistan has grown tenfold. China's share in total vehicle imports has grown from 36% to 80%.

It was emphasized with satisfaction that during the state visit Shavkat Mirziyoyev and the head of BYD jointly launched the project on assembly of electric and hybrid cars in Jizzakh region. It is noteworthy that this will be BYD's first joint production outside China.

Fourthly, following the results of the interregional forum in Urumqi, the Council of Regions of Uzbekistan and China was established.

According to Eldor Aripov, "this is a very important step, which will make it possible to maintain interaction between the regions not from one forum to another, but on a permanent basis".

"Direct ties between the regions of the two countries, in fact, act as strong linking mechanisms that ensure the practical implementation of cooperation in all spheres," the expert summarized.

The conference organized by the International Institute for Central Asia jointly with the Embassy of the People's Republic of China in Uzbekistan, in collaboration with the ISRS under the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan and the Сhambers of commerce and industry of the two countries, leaders and experts from leading research institutes of Uzbekistan and China, as well as representatives of Chinese companies in our country, took part.