Cooperation between Uzbekistan and Russia is not only a valuable asset for the development of bilateral dialogue, but also an important factor in the stable and sustainable development of the Eurasia region, creating fertile grounds for cooperation in the most sought-after areas of interaction in its vast expanses, Milana Bazarova writes.
The comprehensive development of relations with the Russian Federation is one of the key foreign policy priorities of Uzbekistan. The steps the two countries have taken to improve their relationship to the point where it can be considered a comprehensive strategic partnership and alliance, and the practical results they have achieved, indicate that Uzbekistan-Russia ties go beyond mere slogans and declarations, and constitute genuine, sustainable, long-term measures.
This growing partnership is grounded in a bilateral legal framework, which is supplemented from year to year with new documents that meet the objective, real needs of mutual relations. Today, there are 409 interstate, intergovernmental and interdepartmental agreements. Strengthening the “normative support” of cooperation is undeniable evidence of the determination of the two states to elevate cooperation and achieve full-scale development.
Of course, the bar, tone and new benchmarks for bringing the countries closer have been set at the highest level. In this regard, 2017 can be thought of as a new starting point for intensifying contacts between the leaders of the two states. It led to the political dialogue between Uzbekistan and Russia reaching an unprecedentedly high level – over the past eight years, there have been twenty-four state visits by President Shavkat Mirziyoyev and President Vladimir Putin.
These dynamics have provided the impetus for joint work in a variety of areas. As a result, the exchange of delegations between ministries, departments, parliamentarians, regions and business circles have exceeded the thousand mark. Thanks to such intensive communication, it has been possible to achieve breakthrough results in all possible fields of cooperation.
Achievements and practices of current interaction
Economic dimension of partnership. Uzbekistan and Russia have achieved a rapid breakthrough in transforming their economic ties. Over the past 7 years, the volume of mutual trade between the states has increased 2.5-fold, exceeding 10 billion US dollars by the end of 2024. At the same time, the structure of trade turnover has changed qualitatively – products with high added value already constitute 70%. This indicator was achieved, among other things, due to the accelerated development of industrial cooperation – today more than 150 projects have been launched in systemically important sectors of the economy.
At the same time, the portfolio of investment projects with Russia has reached 56 billion dollars. Ambitious new goals have been set for the coming years – to increase trade turnover to 30 billion dollars and attract investments of up to 10 billion dollars by the end of this year.
The flourishing of economic interaction between the two countries has occurred due to the forced, but at the same time methodical transition from simple export-import operations to industrial and technological partnership, which now also entails high-tech cooperation. Thus, according to the latest agreements, the parties have begun to develop cooperation in the field of nuclear medicine, announced the creation of a joint venture for the production of agricultural drones, and intensified practical steps to build a low-power nuclear power plant in Uzbekistan.
Russia’s regions serve as a driver of horizontal cooperation. Uzbekistan and Russia are consistently forming sustainable chains of regional interaction. Today, 80 regions of the Russian Federation, almost all of them, are developing business relations with Uzbekistan. At the same time, the number of joint regional projects has reached over 200, and their total value is more than 4 billion dollars.
All of them cover a wide range of industries and contribute to the creation of new jobs, the development of infrastructure, and the improvement of the well-being of citizens of the two countries. In order to formalise interregional cooperation, it was decided to transform the Forum of Regions into the Council of Regions. In order to support and finance regional projects, a joint investment platform with initial capital of 500 million dollars was created. Its funds will be directed to the development of various spheres of the real sector of the economy.
The main priorities of interregional interaction are: 1) increasing mutual trade through cooperation and import substitution projects; 2) expanding the scale of industrial cooperation with maximum coverage of all key sectors of the economy, and aiming at developing cooperation in the field of high-tech production; 3) strengthening collaboration in the field of agriculture through the joint opening of agro-logistics centres; 4) combining efforts to create instruments to support and finance regional projects.
Interconnection of transport infrastructure
The key task of bilateral cooperation is the development of transport infrastructure connecting the two countries, with a special emphasis on international routes.
For this reason, Uzbekistan supports the development of the North-South International Transport Corridor, which is aimed at integrating the road infrastructure connecting Russian ports with Central Asia, the Middle East and South Asia.
As a supporter of inclusive cooperation in the transport sector, Uzbekistan advocates the construction of a multi-option system of transport corridors. In this regard, the Republic is actively developing various options for cost-effective new routes.
These include the Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan-China railway and the Trans-Afghan Corridor, which fit seamlessly into the global goals of increasing connectivity across the Eurasian continent. Against this background, it is no coincidence that Uzbekistan and Russia have decided to join forces to design the Trans-Afghan Railway. Joint steps in this direction will allow the countries to make a strategic contribution to the development of transport connectivity throughout Eurasia.
Scientific and educational basis for interaction
At the state level, comprehensive work is being carried out to strengthen the foundations for close cooperation in the field of education; various intergovernmental agreements are being concluded both on a bilateral basis and within the CIS. To date, the number of educational programmes between Uzbekistan and Russia has already approached 400. A unique bilateral cooperation mechanism has been created between the countries – an annual educational forum and an Interregional Conference of Rectors of Universities. Uzbekistan does not have a similar arrangement with any other country.
Uzbekistan is also the leader among the CIS countries in the total number of branches of Russian universities – their number has reached 15. Of these, most specialise in training technical personnel.
According to statistics, Uzbek students most often choose engineering and technical specialties when entering Russian universities. In fact, educational cooperation between Uzbekistan and Russia has its own development logic, fully meeting the needs of the growing industrial and technological partnership between the two countries. As a result of this transfer of competencies, a generation of personnel is being raised that will be able to “speak the same technological language”, which will significantly simplify the development of production potential within the framework of bilateral partnership.
The role of intercultural communication
The development of cooperation in the field of tourism is one of the urgent tasks in the context of strengthening humanitarian contacts between Uzbekistan and Russia. Over the past few years, the number of Russian tourists in Uzbekistan has increased fivefold – thus, they rank fourth among visitors to the Republic.
At the same time, interest in tourist trips to large historical cities and regional centres of Russia is growing among citizens of Uzbekistan. Such dynamics are an obvious indicator of a growing interest in learning about the culture and traditions of our peoples.
For the next two years, the countries have approved the implementation of the Bilateral Cooperation Programme to increase the flow of tourists and establish a “road map” in the tourism sector, including 12 blocks of events. Their implementation will increase mutual exchanges of tourists by 40% by 2027 – up to 2 million trips per year.
Current relations between Uzbekistan and Russia, their character, “intonation” and approaches serve as a clear example of how flexible, successful and mutually beneficial the partnership between the two countries can be. Such cooperation is not only a valuable asset for the development of bilateral dialogue, but also an important factor in the stable and sustainable development of the Eurasia region, creating fertile grounds for cooperation in the most sought-after areas of interaction in its vast expanses.
