Daily Times

Uzbekistan’s Foreign Minister Abdulaziz Kamilov was on a three-day visit to Pakistan from 9-10th March and had detailed consultations on comprehensive levels of engagement between Pakistan and Uzbekistan in diverse sectors including trade, economic, strategic, diplomatic, and other important regional and international issues. On his two-day official visit with a high-level delegation, Foreign Minister Kamilov had meetings with his counterpart Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi and Pakistan’s premier Imran Khan on issues of bilateral nature building on the past and projecting the future dimension of relations. Earlier Adviser to the Prime Minister on Commerce and Investment, Mr. Razzak Dawood was in Tashkent for important collaboration on trade, commerce and investment including finalizing the discussions on Trans-Afghan Railway project that was recently agreed upon by Pakistan. These important discussions, dialogues and deliberations on increasing engagement between Pakistan and Uzbekistan are creating opportunities for the region especially where Afghanistan is a regional knot which is creating challenges for trade and economic outreach. Both states share the commonality of interest and views on important regional and international issues. The strength of togetherness between Pakistan and Uzbekistan is based on congeniality of interest, deep rooted historical past, cultural ties and exceptional people to people ties. Through the strong bond of the past three decades of diplomatic relationship, these high level visits have remained an important feature of building the momentum for partnership.

With upcoming expanded trilateral consultation on peaceful settlement of Afghan issue led by Russian Federation, wherein Russia has invited important stakeholders to attend the session, the consultation between Pakistan and Uzbekistan especially on Afghanistan reflect the significance of commonality of views on this issue

Foreign Minister Abdulaziz Kamilov was accompanied by Mr. Ikhtiyor Abullayev, Chairman of the State Security Service and Ismatulla Irgashev, Special Representative of President of Uzbekistan for Afghanistan along with other representatives of Uzbek Ministry of Foreign Affairs and State Security Service of Uzbekistan. During the meeting with Pakistani high officials including Prime Minister Imran, Pakistan has offered Uzbekistan to have access to the Gwadar deep seaport in order to increase its connectivity and trade in the region and beyond. Through this opportunity, Uzbekistan can utilize the network of facilities in terms of connectivity developed across the length and breadth of Pakistan through China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). During the visit and meetings, discussion on Pakistan-Uzbekistan-Afghanistan railway project was also finalized since the project will be a game changer to connect the countries to the global trade routes through Gwadar. Pakistan’s geographical location is offering the shortest route to the landlocked Central Asian countries to unlock potentials for business, connectivity and trade. This is a multimillion-dollar project and the line is around 573 Km long that will connect Pakistan’s Peshawar city to Afghanistan’s cities of Kabul and Mazar-e-Sharif all the way to Uzbekistan. From Peshawar onwards this will connect to Gwadar and to global markets through CPEC. The entire project is estimated to be around 4.8 bn USD supported by the World Bank. The agreement was signed this year in January wherein the project also includes a fiber optic line for high speed internet digital connectivity. Chairperson of the Senate of Uzbekistan, Tanzil Narbaeva called this agreement as the “event of the century” especially when Uzbekistan is leading an open and pragmatic foreign policy. There is an expected collaboration for the power transmission project as well. PM Imran Khan described the project as the “important connectivity project” and endorsed Pakistan’s efforts for the early implementation of the railway line. Once this entire project is operationalized, there is an estimate that the trade between Pakistan and Uzbekistan may reach up to 90 billion USD. Another important initiative by the government of Uzbekistan is hosting the Central Asia-South Asia Connectivity Conference in Tashkent in July this year. Foreign Minister has also asked Prime Minister Imran Khan on behalf of the President of Uzbekistan to be a part of this important event. Connectivity without Pakistan in the region is incomplete. These conversations and an urge to resolve the challenges to connectivity, Pakistan and Uzbekistan together can play a leading role in the entire trade and economic ecosystem of this region. While both the states are part of the Silk Road, rebuilding the linkages can improve the economics of the region.

Pakistan enjoys deep rooted bilateral relations with Uzbekistan that dates back to the independence of Uzbekistan from USSR. Pakistan was one of the first countries to recognize the independence of Uzbekistan. Both countries share a border with Afghanistan, so peace and stability in Afghanistan is one of the major common interests of Pakistan and Uzbekistan. Both countries have deep cordial relations as their interests have become aligned in Afghanistan. To make easy and economical trade possible with Central Asia and Middle Eastern countries, Uzbekistan favors the passage of Pakistan and Gwadar and Karachi port is an important option. Foreign ministers of both countries also held a joint press conference in which they showed confidence over each other and committed to achieve desired goals of socio-economic prosperity and connectivity through peace and harmony in the region, connecting through rail corridor, investments in diverse sectors of economy, tourism and other befitting propositions between the two countries. Speaking at a joint news conference Uzbek Foreign Minister Abdulaziz Kamilov and his counterpart Shah Mehmood Qureshi said both the countries shared views on Afghanistan. Both Foreign Ministers expressed the resolve to further enhance bilateral cooperation to promote peace and stability in the region. It also reflected unanimity in their views that peace and stability in the region is vital for progress and development of their nations.

Relations between Pakistan and Uzbekistan are based on common faith, shared history and cultural affinities. These linkages provide a strong foundation for increased bilateral cooperation in myriad fields. Both countries have been closely collaborating at regional and international fora, especially at the fora of UN, OIC, ECO, and SCO. The two countries are also closely cooperating to enhance regional connectivity in building regional peace and stability. These bilateral and multilateral summits and meetings have increased in frequency in the last two years. Initially, Pakistan boosted its relations with its brotherly neighbor nations of Central Asia when Gwadar port and Special Economic Zones got materialized. To integrate these industrial areas and SEZs into the national economy of Pakistan, Pakistan needs a robust foreign investment and continuous cycle of product supply chains from the global partners and Uzbekistan is an important regional trusted friend. The practical application of this thought process will only be implemented when other neighboring nations will join hands together for the regional connectivity and prosperity of Central Asian and South Asian regions.

With upcoming expanded trilateral consultation on peaceful settlement of Afghan issue led by Russian Federation, wherein Russia has invited important stakeholders to attend the session, the consultation between Pakistan and Uzbekistan especially on Afghanistan reflect the significance of commonality of views on this issue. As the region is marred with the conflicts and growing threats to peace and stability, leadership in Uzbekistan and Pakistan are driving the momentum to find indigenous solutions to the regional challenges. Only through this, our generation will see prosperity and stability.

The writer is Director Institute of Peace and Diplomatic Studies