DM Monitoring
BAKU: Uzbekistan, along with Kazakhstan, is a key partner of Poland in the region of Central Asia, Press Office Director of Poland’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Andrzej Fafara told Trend in an interview.
“Significant demographic potential as well as political, economic and social reforms, initiated in 2016 by a change in the office of president, are factors that induce Warsaw to deepen contacts with Tashkent. Mutual interest in expanding cooperation were evidenced by two visits of Poland’s Deputy Ministers of Foreign Affairs to Uzbekistan (2018, 2019), visit of the Secretary of the National Security Council of Uzbekistan Viktor Makhmudov to Warsaw and raising the status of head of the Uzbekistan diplomatic mission in Warsaw to the rank of Ambassador in 2019,” noted Fafara.
Minister of Foreign Affairs of Poland Jacek Czaputowicz maintains his willingness to pay a visit to Uzbekistan as soon as the COVID-19 pandemic situation makes it possible, he said.
“Poland assesses positively the changes in Uzbekistan’s internal policy that have taken place in the last four years. They were manifested, among others, by the adoption of the Development Strategy of Uzbekistan for the period from 2017 through 2021, providing for a comprehensive modernization of the country’s economy and achieving sustainable economic growth.
The program of reforms was recognized by ‘The Economist’, which declared Uzbekistan “the country of the year 2019” – the country which was the most outstanding in the world in terms of the importance of introduced changes,” Poland’s MFA said.
Fafara said Poland is convinced that the new approach of the Uzbekistan’s authorities to socio-economic issues will contribute to improving the standard of living of citizens, as well as a more complete fulfilling of the demographic, economic and political potential of the country.
“We are interested in deepening contacts with Uzbekistan in all spheres – in the field of political as well as economic, social and cultural cooperation and Uzbekistan is interested in deepening cooperation with Poland in many fields too, including trade, healthcare, social policy or education. Further priorities include good governance, agriculture, scientific collaboration as well as historical and cultural heritage,” he said.
