BISHKEK (TCA) — The Central Asia-Caucasus Institute (CACI) on January 22 will organize a Forum event in Washington, DC on the subject “Uzbekistan’s New Foreign Policy: Change and Continuity under New Leadership”.
Uzbekistan’s foreign policy has undergone significant changes since the transition that brought Shavkat Mirziyoyev to the Presidency. Most notable has been the country’s outreach to Uzbekistan’s neighbors, including Afghanistan, which has a transformative potential for Central Asia as a whole. Uzbekistan has also reached out to the international community beyond Central Asia, while maintaining the country’s long-standing policy of eschewing membership in Russian-led integrative structures, the CACI said in a comment before the event.
President Mirziyoyev, who declared that improving ties with Uzbekistan’s neighbors is his major foreign-policy priority, has already paid fence-mending visits to next-door neighbors Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Turkmenistan, and plans a trip to Tajikistan in the near future.
The Forum event, moderated by CACI Chairman S. Frederick Starr, will feature a summary of a new Silk Road Paper authored by Richard Weitz on the subject, and provide opportunity for discussion.
Speakers at the forum will include Richard Weitz, Senior Fellow and Director, Center for Military-Political Analysis, Hudson Institute; and John Herbst, Director, Eurasia Center, Atlantic Council, Ambassador (Ret.).
The event will take place on January 22, at 1319 18th St NW, Washington, DC 20036, from 11:00 to 12:30 pm.
