Silk Road 2.0? Uzbekistan-EU relations boosted by new democratic elections

Uzbekistan will go to the polls on 27 October, voting in parliamentary and local elections. A Euractiv event, organised with the Center for Analysis of Democratic Processes, assessed how far Uzbekistan has come on the path to democracy.

Senator Sodiq Safoyev, First Deputy Speaker of the Senate of the Republic of Uzbekistan, said he was proud of his country’s achievements. “Uzbekistan is going through a deep transformation, and these elections are of tremendous importance for my country. First of all, it’s the first election after adjusting the constitution to the new realities. And it will be testimony to how this new version of the constitution works.”

“Secondly, Uzbekistan is starting the second phase of reforms. The coming elections to elect a new parliament which will be crucial in implementing challenging decisions for making the next stage of our modernisation process possible.”

Eldor Tulyakov, Executive Director of the Development Strategy Center, where he is closely involved in implementing key national reforms in Uzbekistan, agreed and was keen to highlight the role of civil society: “The very important thing is that the government now understands very well that it cannot carry out all the reforms itself and is therefore working with civil society, with active NGOs, and that is very important for the government.”

“The Development Strategy Center, where I work, is part of these initiatives to make sure that the voices of society are heard at all levels of policymaking, for example, drafting certain specific documents like strategies, laws and bylaws. After that, they are also active in monitoring the implementation of those documents. We also try to ensure that civil society is actively involved in ensuring accountability of the public officials. Not always an easy job!”

Strategies for Uzbekistan’s future

Utkir Saidov, Head of the Department at one of those NGOs, the Center for Analysis of Democratic Processes, explained his organisation's role: “Our centre was organised in 2022, and our main objective is system analysis of democratic processes in Uzbekistan and monitoring and forecasting the socio-economic and socio-political issues in the region.”

“As we know, these parliamentary elections are historical for Uzbekistan because, for the first time in history, our population will vote not only for certain candidates but for the platforms of political parties, their viewpoints and strategies for the country’s future.”

Nodir Tilavoldiev is a member of parliament for the second-largest party in Uzbekistan. The National Revival Democratic Party or ‘Milliy Tiklanish’ has 36 seats in the parliament and more than 1,200 seats in local councils. Tilavoldiev says Milliy Tiklanish stands apart from other parties with its unique vision rooted in Uzbekistan, promoting national values and national identity. We don’t think that modernity should come at the cost of national values, he said.

Gaining transparency

Building a secular democracy based on the supremacy of law, open civil society, and a socially oriented market economy is challenging, particularly as the previous system was marked by centralised, un-transparent governance.

Safoyev was realistic about the challenges, saying: “We are talking about genuine political and economic modernisation. We’ve grown up from the Marxist trend of the Soviet Union, and for many years, we believed that economic transformation should come first, and then political transformation will come later. But it became clear that without applying good governance, respect for human rights and liberties, a political system that guarantees ownership rights, freedom of entrepreneurship, and civil society, the economic side will not work.”

“Transformation looks like a very lucrative idea. But in real life, it has several obstacles. For instance, economic liberalisation. Sounds great, but it means inflation,” he added, “It means redistribution of the ownership system, more privatisation, and prices going up. But without that, there will be no investment.”

Uzbekistan’s relationship with EU

The second half of the event looked more closely at the country’s relationship with the EU and the Central Asia region as a whole.

In 2022 and 2023, the Central Asian Heads of State and the President of the European Council held their first-ever high-level meetings, resulting in the preparation of a further joint roadmap for deepening ties between the EU and Central Asia and an EU–Central Asia leaders’ summit is due to take place in 2024.

Central Asia’s growing geostrategic importance in the light of recent global developments means that trade and investment are likely top of the agenda, particularly in areas such as energy, agrifood, raw materials and connectivity.

“Uzbekistan is the ideal trade and investment partner for the EU in Central Asia, now capturing 40% of all Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) coming into the region and rapidly acceding into the WTO,” said Aziz Khamidov, Head of Department, Ministry of Investments, Industry and Trade of the Republic of Uzbekistan, adding: “In short, Uzbekistan is about political stability, growth, world-class standards of governance and an openness to investment.”

Dietmar Krissler, head of the Central Asia division in the European External Action Service (EEAS), said there is “a very good reason for the European Union and for Central Asia to work together to strengthen our mutual engagement because I do believe that this is also for the benefit of our citizens. It’s in the European Union’s strategic interest that we cooperate closer with Central Asia.”

He underlined the work that has been done and the need to continue on that path: “We have created many frameworks of cooperation as well as dialogues, and we have developed those in the past few years with our Central Asian colleagues. And they relate to, for example, trade, investment, the business climate, critical raw materials, sustainable connectivity, transport, digitalisation, education, research, and so on.”

Krissler remarked: “I think both sides have realised that in this geopolitical situation that we find ourselves, it is indeed mutually beneficial that we cooperate closer. I do believe that we can contribute to tangible benefits for our citizens in both regions, whether it is through access to critical raw materials for our industries, increased trade and investment opportunities, or whether it is by fostering a more stable and secure neighbourhood.”

Modernisation agenda

Dumitru Fornea, Secretary General of the Romanian National Trade Union Confederation MERIDIAN and a member of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC), drew parallels between a now-modernising Uzbekistan and his home country of Romania.

“One of the factors for Romania coming from an ex-Soviet system has been the development of civil society organisations and the strengthening and consolidation of relationships at the international level. So now, in the framework of the Global Gateway, we have this enhanced partnership and cooperation agreement, which is enforcing our trade relationships and exchanges and standards.”

“I think it’s a huge opportunity for this region to find its strategic interdependencies with the European Union and to work a little bit on the complementarities of industry,” he said.

Dr Fabienne Bossuyt, Associate Professor and co-coordinator at Ghent Institute for International and European Studies (GIES), Ghent University, predicted that future cooperation is likely to focus on economic and infrastructure-related cooperation “as the new European Commission seems to be interested more in protecting the EU’s own democracy rather than putting a strong focus on supporting democracy externally.”

“The Central Asian states from their side are very keen on enhancing economic and restructure-related cooperation with the EU, and hence, they will be pleased to see this enhanced focus on economic and infrastructure-related matters. Russia is still a very influential and important actor in Central Asia, and this is unlikely to change in the near future.”

“None of the Central Asian states is willing to cut ties with Russia because it is in their interest to remain close partners with Russia. However, at the same time, they remain preoccupied with safeguarding their sovereignty, and hence they are more than ever balancing their relations with a wide range of external actors and partners.”

[Edited By Brian Maguire | Euractiv's Advocacy Lab ]