On May 17, the Institute for Strategic and Regional Studies under the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan (ISRS) held a meeting with Jiang Lin, secretary of the Party Committee of Northwest University of China, Lu Shanbin, director of the Silk Road Research Institute, and Ren Huilian, Director of the Office of International Cooperation of Northwest University, China.

During the meeting, the parties discussed the current state and future prospects of Uzbek-Chinese relations, as well as the establishment of cooperation between ISRS and Northwest University (NWU) of the PRC.

It was noted that Uzbekistan and China are successfully building mutually beneficial cooperation. Thanks to the political will of the leaders, bilateral relations were raised to the level of an “all-weather comprehensive strategic partnership”.

The meeting participants noted with satisfaction the acceleration of the dynamics of trade and economic interaction. To date, China has established itself as a leading trade and investment partner of Uzbekistan. At the end of 2023, mutual trade turnover exceeded $14 billion. The total volume of Chinese investments in our country over the past seven years amounted to $15 billion.

As a result of the meeting, agreements were reached on the further development of expert dialogue and the expansion of partnerships between analytical centers of Uzbekistan and China.

In particular, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed between ISRS and the Northwest University of the PRC.

As Jiang Lin, secretary of the Party Committee of the Northwest University of the PRC, noted that the signing of the memorandum will be an important “starting point” for the beginning of fruitful cooperation between ISRS and NWU. Its implementation will make it possible to conduct joint research in areas of mutual interest, exchange publications, organize mutual academic internships and various joint events.

It should be noted that in 2013, the Center for the Study of Uzbekistan was opened at the Institute for Silk Road Research. Currently, the Center is preparing the first comprehensive research report on the annual development of the Republic of Uzbekistan called “Blue Book of Uzbekistan”. Its main goal will be to bring to a wide audience all aspects of Chinese-Uzbek cooperation in the political, economic, cultural, humanitarian and other spheres.

Northwest University of the PRC is a public educational institution founded in 1902 in Xi'an. It is one of the reputable multidisciplinary universities in China in the field of humanities, archaeology, geology, chemical engineering, economics, etc. In total, the university has 40 research centers, one of which is the Silk Road Research Institute. To date, NWU has established connections with more than 120 universities and research organizations from 30 countries.