The Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev may initiate the establishment of the union of the Central Asian nations in the coming two or three years, Tajik expert Ibrohim Usmonov told Asia-Plus in an interview.
Usmonov believes that Mirziyoyev intends to restore Uzbekistan’s informal status of leader in the Central Asian region.
“Mirziyoyev’s authority has grown among the population of Uzbekistan and other countries to such an extent that any politician could envy,” Usmonov said.
“I believe that the Uzbek leader will take new initiatives for protecting culture, language and education of ethnic minorities in the region in the near future,” Tajik expert added.
Meanwhile, the idea of a Central Asian Union is not new. After the fall of the Soviet Union, the two largest Central Asian nations of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan took the initiative for Central Asian integration. In January 1994 an agreement was signed in Tashkent for the creation of the Central Asian Union, with Kyrgyzstan joining shortly thereafter. This marked the start of Central Asia’s integration process, aiming to develop and implement projects to deepen economic integration. However, the idea of Central Asian integration had later died, despite numerous attempts primarily by Kazakhstan to revive it.
The Central Asian Union was proposed by Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev on April 26, 2007, in order to create an economic and political union similar to that of the EU encompassing the five former Soviet Central Asian republics of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.
Though the proposed union has the support of the presidents of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, it was outright rejected by former Uzbek president Islam Karimov.
