May 16 this year at the Institute for Strategic and Regional Studies under the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan, a meeting was held with teaching staff and students of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. The Fletcher School is the oldest academic center in the United States, which trains specialists in the field of international relations, diplomacy and international law.

According to the latest ranking of Foreign Policy magazine, it is ranked 6th in the world in the list of the most authoritative international relations programs.

During the meeting, issues of strengthening regional cooperation in Central Asia and the role of Uzbekistan in these processes, as well as prospects for stabilizing the situation in Afghanistan were discussed.

The position of Uzbekistan on deepening cooperation in the region and ensuring sustainable development and stability in Central Asia, as well as on topical issues on the international agenda was brought to the attention of the American guests.

In particular, ISRS Director Eldor Aripov noted that since 2017 the situation in Central Asia has changed dramatically, and thanks to joint efforts, a fundamentally new political atmosphere has been created in the region.

A striking example of a new level of relations in the region is the establishment of the Consultative Meetings of the Heads of State of Central Asia. Moreover, various regional platforms have appeared - the Central Asia Economic Forum, the Central Asian Expert Forum, the Meeting of Ministers of Agriculture, Women Leaders' Dialogue of Central Asia, etc.

As the director of ISRS emphasized, all this gave a powerful impetus to the development of regional trade. As a result, from 2016 to 2022, the number of joint ventures has increased five times, intra-regional trade has increased 4 times - from $5.5 billion to $20 billion. The region's tourist attractiveness is growing. During this period, the number of foreign tourists visiting the countries of Central Asia doubled.

In turn, Professor of the Fletcher School D. Drezner said that their trip to Uzbekistan took place as part of a tour of representatives of this university to Central Asia.

According to him, before arriving in Uzbekistan on May 11-13 this year they visited Kazakhstan to discuss trends in the region with leading Kazakh think tanks and expert circles, as well as expanding academic ties.

Based on the results of the conversation, sides expressed the readiness to continue and intensify cooperation between ISRS and the Fletcher School in areas of mutual interest.