Ashraf AboArafe
On September 23rd, 2020, H.E. President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev spoke at the general debate of the 75th session of the UN General Assembly, which was held online.
During his speech, he noted that since time immemorial Central Asia has been a place of historical meetings and spiritual mutual enrichment of different peoples, cultures and religions. Due to its central place on the Great Silk Road, the region served as an important link for international trade, cultural, scientific and intellectual exchange.
The peoples of this region play an important role as a connecting route between Asia and Europe, which contributed to the spread of letter writing and world religions, technological advances and dialogue between the civilizations of the East and West.
Unfortunately, the scale of the contribution of the peoples who lived and worked in Central Asia is still not fully discovered. It is obvious that Uzbekistan plays a special role in popularizing this huge civilizational contribution of Central Asia to the development of world culture and science.
Uzbekistan is located in the heart of Central Asia in geographic, cultural, historical and spiritual terms. Realizing the commonality of history, cultures and traditions, as well as the indivisibility of security, since of first years of independence, Uzbekistan played a key, positive and responsible role in matters of interethnic relations in Central Asia.
Strengthening cultural, humanitarian and spiritual ties is one of the most important factors in the implementation of the new regional course of Uzbekistan in Central Asia, conducted under the leadership of President H.E. Shavkat Mirziyoyev.
The popularization of the rich cultural, historical and civilizational heritage of Uzbekistan and Central Asia as a whole is also intended to serve the sustainable and economic development of the countries of the region by increasing the tourist flow from around the world.
The efforts of many states to revive the Silk Road, in particular, within the framework of the Chinese initiative “One Belt One Road” create additional prerequisites for demonstrating the tourism, gastronomic and economic potential of Uzbekistan and Central Asia through international cultural projects.
In this regard, the President of Uzbekistan put forward an initiative to hold the International Forum “Central Asia at the Crossroads of World Civilizations” in 2021. According to Shavkat Mirziyoyev, this will allow:
– to effectively use the instruments of “soft power” and “cultural diplomacy” in the implementation of the new foreign policy of Uzbekistan;
– to serve to further strengthen among the public of the countries of the region a sense of belonging to a single region called “Central Asia”, which is an important factor in the development of good-neighborly interstate relations;
– to reiterate the huge contribution of the peoples of Uzbekistan and other countries of Central Asia to the development of world civilization;
– to increase the interest of the international scientific community in the study of the scientific and intellectual heritage of the peoples of Central Asia;
– to draw the attention and assistance of the world community to the measures taken in Central Asia to restore and popularize the cultural and historical heritage.
– to promote the tourist brand of the historical city of Khiva and Uzbekistan in whole.
The organization, together with UNESCO, of a major international cultural event in Central Asia will serve to further strengthen interaction with this reliable international structure.
