It took more than 30 years, but the prime ministers of the three Central Asian countries that share the Ferghana Valley finally met to discuss a range of important issues that concern all three states.
Tajik Prime Minister Kohir Rasulzoda, Uzbek Prime Minister Abdulla Aripov, and Chairman of Kyrgyzstan’s Cabinet of Ministers (Kyrgyzstan does not have a post of prime minister) Adylbek Kasymaliyev met on January 8 at a desolate area where the borders of the three countries meet.
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The group touted agreements on the completion of the delimitation process along the Uzbek-Kyrgyz border and the early December 2024 agreement on the Kyrgyz-Tajik border.
Since 1991, unmarked areas of the borders in the Ferghana Valley were often the scenes of conflicts between communities on either side of the frontier. Border guards sometimes fired on trespassers and dozens of people were killed or wounded, sometimes simply because they inadvertently strayed over unmarked territory into the neighboring country.
The Ferghana Valley is the most densely populated region in Central Asia. This is due to the rich agricultural land which makes the region to this day the breadbasket of Central Asia.
Soviet mapmakers drew lines to create Soviet republics in the region, though these borders mattered little since they were internal administrative boundaries inside one country.
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After the USSR collapsed, these often-arbitrary, zigzagging borders took on meaning, and disputes quickly broke out about what land historically belonged to which nation and who had rights to water use. These issues were greatly complicated by the existence of enclaves created during the Soviet period such as Uzbekistan’s Soh and Shahimardon and Tajikistan’s Vorukh, all three of which are surrounded by Kyrgyzstan.
Looking Ahead
The three prime ministers discussed hydropower plants (HPP), an important topic for all three countries, especially as key HPPs are located in the mountains ringing the Ferghana Valley and more are currently under construction.
Central Asia is one the regions most affected by climate change, so HPPs and water use in general are crucial issues, especially given that agriculture in the Ferghana Valley is vital to all three countries. All three countries face electricity shortages and hydropower is seen as a means of alleviating or even totally resolving this dilemma, but at the same time waters flowing from the mountains of Kyrgyzstan are important for agriculture in every Central Asian state.
Uzbek media noted Uzbek Energy Minister Jurabek Mirzamahmudov was part of the delegation attending the January 8 talks. Reports did not mention if energy ministers from Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan were also present.
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Central Asia is also taking on a new importance as a trade corridor between Europe and China, and from Europe and China into Afghanistan and on further to Pakistan. Reports noted logistics were high on the agenda at the meeting of the three prime ministers.
Trade between the three countries, specifically in the Ferghana Valley, was also discussed not only for economic reasons but also as a confidence-building measure now that the borders in the region have finally been set.
A New Era of Friendship and Cooperation?
The January 8 meeting of the three prime ministers was significant simply because it happened.
It took 30 years for officials from the three countries to get together under the same roof, and that happened on April 23, 2021, when the governors of Uzbekistan’s Ferghana Province, Kyrgyzstan’s Batken Province, and Tajikistan’s Sughd Province met for talks on economic cooperation. That there were no follow-up meetings until 2025 illustrates how thorny the issues are in the Ferghana Valley, and that no one wanted to risk making the delicate situation worse by raising contentious issues.
The catalyst for this meeting of prime ministers was likely the Kyrgyz-Tajik border agreement that came after the militaries of the two countries fought brief, but devastating battles along areas of their border in late April 2021 and September 2022.
Uzbekistan, with a population (and army) more than twice as large as Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan combined, called for calm during both conflicts, but refrained from taking a more active role in mediating. Perhaps, now that Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan have reached agreement on their common border, Uzbekistan felt more comfortable participating in a “Ferghana troika” meeting.
In any case, the borders of these three countries have often been closed over the course of the last 33 years, and frequently even when they were open, it was slow and difficult to cross from one country into another.
When the terrorist Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan was roaming the mountain areas where the three countries borders meet in 2000, Uzbekistan put landmines along its borders with Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.
Those were only removed a few years ago.
All this has hindered the development of the Ferghana Valley.
Meetings like the one on January 8 should have happened much sooner.
It would have saved a lot of suffering and hard feelings that still might take years to soothe.
However, at least the prime ministers of the three countries have finally come together, and that meeting could lead to a summit of the three countries’ leaders sometime in the future.
The Ferghana Valley is probably the most important piece of land in Central Asia for the survival of the people of the region. Until now it has been one of the leading sources of problems between the countries that share it, but perhaps the January 8 meeting is the start of a more harmonious and prosperous period for the valley.
