Russia and China are the most reliable and all-weather partners of the Central Asian countries, the former Secretary General of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Rashid Alimov said.
“Who can be an external partner for Central Asian states? Everyone agrees that the most reliable partners for the region are Russia and China. They are like two wings, on which Central Asia relies in its flight to the future,” the ex-Secretary General said, speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the Valdai Discussion Club’s 10th Asian Conference in Samarkand.
He noted that each country has its own multi-vector policy, and no one infringes them. “But there are objective realities, because development of the countries in the region can only be within the region itself and at the expense of traditional partners - Russia and China,” Alimov added.
So, according to him, the trade turnover between the five countries of the region, the Russian Federation and China in one year increased by 20% - by about $25-27 billion. At the same time, the diplomat called the presence of these two countries in the region a living partnership, and not dominance.
According to Alimov, the experts at the meeting came to the conclusion that Central Asia has a “very great future”.
