Strategic Focus: Central Asia
Mid-October 2025 marked a pivotal stage in the evolution of Uzbekistan’s international agency. Tashkent is steadily shaping a coherent strategic narrative that integrates global dialogue, regional cooperation, and social stability into a unified framework of peace and security.
1. Global Level: Uzbekistan’s participation in the “Aqaba Process 2025” meeting held in Rome on October 15 once again affirmed the country’s role as an active contributor to the global security dialogue.
While many states view such forums as mere platforms for reaffirming alliances, Tashkent uses them to advance a principled worldview: lasting peace cannot be achieved without mutual trust, inclusivity, and the equal participation of all states.
In Rome, Uzbekistan’s position stood out for its emphasis on building bridges between developed and developing nations — advocating a shared responsibility for global stability. This approach positions Tashkent not as a passive participant in the international order but as a middle power striving to help shape the normative foundations of a multipolar world.
2. Regional Level: If Rome symbolized Uzbekistan’s conceptual positioning, Samarkand — the diplomatic capital of Central Asia — represented its institutional embodiment. The city hosted the 57th Meeting of the Council of Heads of Security and Intelligence Services of the CIS Member States, chaired by Uzbekistan’s State Security Service.
The meeting gathered the heads of security and intelligence agencies from across the Commonwealth, making Samarkand a laboratory of regional security thinking. In his address, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev identified the key threats of the coming decade: 1. Terrorism; 2. Transnational organized crime; 3. Cybersecurity challenges; 4. The destructive misuse of artificial intelligence.
The discussions in Samarkand demonstrated Uzbekistan’s growing ability to turn its national experience into a regional agenda — one focused on coordination, prevention, and trust-based cooperation.
3. Local Level: At the same time, the first Ferghana Forum of Peace, organized by the Institute for Strategic and Interregional Studies (ISMI), the Center for Progressive Reforms, and several international partners, expanded this security logic to the societal level.
The forum gathered over 300 experts, diplomats, and practitioners from 20 countries, showcasing Uzbekistan’s capacity to unite diverse audiences around a shared agenda. Discussions focused on strengthening confidence, promoting good-neighborliness, and advancing sustainable development in the Ferghana Valley — one of the most interdependent regions of Central Asia.
The event underscored Uzbekistan’s belief that peace begins not in summit halls but within communities — through dialogue, trust, and social inclusion.
From Principles to a System of Action
Together, these three October events represent the systemic evolution of Uzbekistan’s strategic thinking: Rome defined values and priorities at the global level; Samarkand institutionalized cooperation among security agencies; Ferghana reinforced these principles within the social and humanitarian sphere.
This multilayered architecture — combining diplomacy, security cooperation, and civic engagement — reflects Uzbekistan’s broader ambition: to move from participation to initiative, from reaction to agenda-setting.
Uzbekistan is no longer merely navigating among global powers; it is building its own intellectual and institutional ecosystem of security, where dialogue replaces confrontation and trust becomes the new currency of international relations.
By translating its strategic vision into action, Uzbekistan is emerging not only as a guarantor of regional stability but also as a political architect of a new Central Asian order — a state capable of shaping balance, initiative, and ideas in a rapidly transforming region.
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