The Institute for Advanced International Studies (IAIS) at the University of World Economy and Diplomacy (UWED) held the International Conference on "Central Asia in a Changing World" on July 7, 2023.

The event was attended by the heads of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, representatives of the country's leading analytical and research centers, national media, foreign experts and scientists, international observers participating in the Presidential elections on July 9, 2023, UWED faculty and doctoral students.

During the international conference, presentations were made by IAIS researchers, as well as the Chairman of the Board of the Institute for Foreign Policy Studies of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan, Ambassador B. Nurgaliev (Kazakhstan), Director of the Institute for Global Sustainable Development at the University of Warwick E. Korosteleva (Great Britain), President of the Institute for Global Studies, Ambassador A. Sajanhar (India), Professor of the University of Glasgow Luca Ancheski (Great Britain), Senior Analyst of the Berlin International Policy Institute A. Rahr (Germany) and Roy Anthony Rogers, Deputy Director of Asia Europe Institute (AEI) (Malaysia).

The speakers put an emphasis on the fundamentally new conditions, where Uzbekistan is cognizant of the need to rethink its foreign policy philosophy, strategic responsibility for the consistent implementation of confident and active diplomacy based on solid principles. For Uzbekistan, this primarily means a serious adaptation to the new realities of international politics, taking into account the unfolding global crisis and turbulence, a change in the paradigm of international development. The strategic turn of Uzbek diplomacy to the East and South, which has been outlined in recent years, is fully consistent with the changing world realities and the national interests of the country. Without questioning the importance of continuing to build up an active regional Central Asian policy, deepening interaction with traditional partners in the CIS space and leading industrial countries, at the same time, it is time to develop a new vision for positioning Uzbekistan in the system of international relations.

The conference participants expressed the opinion that the most integral vector of Uzbekistan's foreign policy remains in Central Asia. At the same time, it is not only about consolidating the positive changes achieved in the region but also about responding to the risks arising from the growing global uncertainty. While in previous years the main focus was on restoring the relations of the Central Asian countries, from now on stability and security will become a key area. This will set the following two tasks for the foreign policy of Uzbekistan: 1) minimizing the risks of instability and destabilization at the regional and macro-regional level; 2)parallel capitalization of stability against the backdrop of instability in other regions.