On September 20, 2021, Tashkent hosted a conference of the Valdai Discussion Club and the Institute for Strategic and Regional Studies under the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan, titled “Russia and Uzbekistan in the Face of Development and Security Challenges at a New Historical Stage of Interaction”. The conference was opened by Eldor Aripov, Director of the Institute for Strategic and Interregional Studies under the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan; Farhod Arziev, First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Uzbekistan; Andrey Bystritskiy, Chairman of the Board of the Valdai Discussion Club; Andrey Rudenko, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation.
The first session was devoted to the reforms and development in Central Asia. The experts discussed the approaches of Russia and Uzbekistan and the humanitarian aspects of bilateral interaction. Yuri Vasilyev, special correspondent for the business newspaper vz.ru; Anvar Nasyrov, Director of the International Institute of Central Asia; Alexander Vysotsky, Head of Government Affairs, Yandex Go & Market; Alisher Faizullaev, professor at Webster University in Tashkent; Stanislav Tkachenko, Professor of the Department of European Studies, Head of the Master's program “Diplomacy of Russia and Foreign States”, St. Petersburg State University; Ulugbek Khasanov, professor at the University of World Economy and Diplomacy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Uzbekistan, participated. The session was moderated by Sanzhar Valiev, Deputy Director of Institute for Strategic and Interregional Studies under the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan.