The Strategic Partnership Agreement of June 16, 2004, the Treaty of Allied Relations of November 14, 2005, and the Declaration on the Strengthening of Strategic Partnership between the Republic of Uzbekistan and the Russian Federation of June 4, 2012 have been contributing to strengthening cooperation between the two countries.
There are over 200 interstate, intergovernmental and interdepartmental agreements. Along with that, regular meetings at the highest and high levels between the heads of the two countries foster the further development of bilateral relations. The presidents have repeatedly exchanged state, official and working visits. In the framework of the state visit of President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev to Russia in April 2017, over 50 documents in the economic, investment, energy, military-technical, cultural, humanitarian and other fields were signed. The total amount of joint investment projects exceeded USD 15 billion. It is worth mentioning that the strengthening and development of bilateral relations meets national and state interests of both countries, as well as the goals of ensuring security in Central Asia, combating the threat of drug trafficking, international terrorism, religious extremism and fundamentalism. In accordance with the State Program 2018 on the implementation of the Action Strategy in the Year of Support of Active Entrepreneurship, Innovative Ideas and Technologies, the military and technical cooperation has been actively developing to further strengthen the defense power of the state, and the capacity and military power of the Armed Forces. In October, the defense ministers of Uzbekistan and Russia held talks in Tashkent. Following the meeting, Abdusalom Azizov and Sergei Shoigu signed an agreement on the mutual use of airspace and agreed to develop military and technical ties. It is noteworthy that last year, the parties resumed joint military exercises. The first maneuvers in the framework of the new agreements took place in October 2017 at the Forish range. During the talks, the heads of the Defense Ministries of Russia and Uzbekistan signed a cooperation plan between the Defense Ministries for the next year, and already in 2018, more than 300 Uzbek soldiers have been enrolled at universities in the Russian Defense Ministry. Meanwhile, the Agreement on Cooperation in the construction of a nuclear power plant in Uzbekistan, signed in September as part of a meeting of the Uzbek-Russian intergovernmental commission in Moscow, has become a good example of building up bilateral cooperation. The implementation of the project, according to experts, will allow Uzbekistan, in addition to electricity, gaining other advantages. Specifically, the project will benefit Uzbek enterprises, since all other industries will work on the construction of the station. In addition, at the construction stage, the NPP will provide work to 6,000-10,000 people, and during the operation period, it will employ 1,500-2,000 highly qualified specialists. The Moscow Engineering Physics Institute will open a branch in Uzbekistan to train personnel in the nuclear field. The first Uzbek specialists are currently studying at the head institute of MEPhI. The relations between Uzbekistan and Russia have been catalyzed over the past two years. They have been accelerated in almost all areas, both in politics and economics. Russia is the largest investment partner of Uzbekistan. The volume of investments from this country exceeds USD 8.5 billion. The country runs more than 960 enterprises with the Russian share. In turn, the residents of Uzbekistan created more than 560 enterprises in the territory of the Russian Federation. Major investments fall to the fuel and energy complex. Russian companies are actively involved in the exploration and development of hydrocarbons in Uzbekistan. The coordinating role in the development of bilateral economic relations is assigned to the Intergovernmental Commission on Economic Cooperation between the Russian Federation and the Republic of Uzbekistan. One of the priorities covers the interaction in the cultural, humanitarian, scientific and technical fields. Both sides keep demonstrating great interest in the development of cooperation in the field of education and science. Bilateral scientific conferences are organized on a regular basis. Along with that, branches of Lomonosov Moscow State University, Plekhanov Russian Economic University, Gubkin Russian State University of Oil and Gas successfully operate in Uzbekistan. Besides, MISiS is getting prepared to educate the new staff in Almalyk. According to the State Program 2018, which provides for the expansion of the network of consular offices, as well as the full support for compatriots abroad, the General Consulate of Uzbekistan was opened in St. Petersburg. At the same time, the Russian government approved a Decree on the establishment of general consulates of Uzbekistan in Vladivostok, Yekaterinburg, Kazan and Rostov-on-Don by the end of 2018. As reported, this process will continue as the decision is made with the Russian government on the need to open similar institutions somewhere else in the country. All this ultimately will serve strengthening the relationships between the two countries, the development of cooperation on mutually beneficial conditions.

Shukhrat Irgashev,

Regina Galimova.

experts of the Development Strategy Center.