Tashkent (TDI): Uzbekistan is poised to shake up its foreign policy landscape, building on recent electoral reforms to strengthen ties with regional nations beyond its Central Asian neighbors, prioritizing economic cooperation and multilateralism to drive growth and stability.
The country’s President Shavkat Mirziyoyev has been instrumental in shaping this new direction.
The president hinted over shift in the foreign policy in his address to the Legislative Chamber of the Parliament while submitting candidacy of the Prime Minister on November 20.
In his address he stressed need to expand international cooperation and deepen regional interaction with the nearest neighbors.
In this regard, he noted the need to adopt a new version of the Foreign Policy Concept.
It was stressed that the development of effective and systemic ties with Central Asian countries, other leading partners, as well as with authoritative international and regional organizations and financial institutions should always be in the focus of attention.
“In this difficult period, special importance is attached to protecting the independence and sovereignty of our State, as well as the peaceful and free life of our people.”
The set-up with a new approach is now started emphasizing the need for favorable external environment to support Uzbekistan’s internal development and economic modernization.
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The President also told members of the parliament that attention will be intensified to strengthening the combat and moral potential of the Armed Forces.
For interacting internationally and better economy, he stressed need for upgrading skills of the young people in the country.
He also mentioned a long list of economic successes in the last three years. On GDP, the president said that it is expected to reach $110 billion this year.
“If this pace is maintained, by 2030 our country’s economy may reach $200 billion. This will be the basis for a drastic increase in the standard of living and quality of life of the population.”
In particular, he added, it will be possible to increase per capita income by more than 5 thousand dollars, to reduce poverty to 5 percent, to introduce a social insurance system for the needy, to double spending on health care, to cover all citizens with health insurance and guaranteed medical care, to build 150 thousand units of modern housing annually.
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The president added that one of the key tasks remains to increase the share of the private sector in the economy to 85 percent in the next five years.
For further improvement he suggested that the government should implement public-private partnership projects worth $30 billion.
