Most of the superpower countries have established cooperation with the countries of Central Asia in the “C5+1” format.
In particular, the leaders of five countries met with German Chancellor Olaf Scholtz and US President Joe Biden in September of this year in the format of “C5+1” (Five countries plus one).
Until thirty years ago, five Central Asian countries were part of the Soviet Union, and after that Russia tried to keep them under its influence.
Gleb Kovalenko, the deputy executive director of the Lomonosov University branch in Moscow, said on October 30 in Dushanbe at the summit of achievements and prospects of the “C5+1” format for Central Asia, that Russia does not have a proper relationship with the five countries of the region.
“In my opinion, Russia does not treat the countries of Central Asia in a reliable way, from the financial, economic, cultural point of view, you can name it as much as you want, and this is a big problem,” Kovalenko said.
According to Kovalenko, Russia is cut off from Western capital markets under sanctions, but at the same time it does not invest enough in projects in Central Asia. This is despite the fact that investment in these countries is limited, and the external debts of some of them are very high.
In such circumstances, the Central Asian states are holding talks with 10 countries and international organizations in the C5+1 format.
Erkinhon Rahmatulloev, the former ambassador of Tajikistan to the European Union and the former adviser to the president of Tajikistan on international affairs, believes that all those countries and organizations in the region have their own interests, and Tajikistan should also try to increase its interests. He said: “In this regard, the effective cooperation of Central Asia during the outbreak of the pandemic disease “COVID-19” should be noted. With a quick and timely response, the Union provided large-scale and specialized assistance to Central Asia to combat this modern disaster. In fact, Tajikistan received the largest amount in the region, 48 million euros, to solve the issues related to this disease, which was spent on the purchase of medical equipment and basic necessities.
The question was not answered at the conference, how far the “C5+1” template will help the development of bilateral relations, whether it is the dream of the parties under the number “one” who want to see the region united and equal.
The participants of the conference generally praised the “C5+1” format.
Alim Sherzamonov, a representative of the opposition, does not consider the cooperation of superpower countries with Tajikistan to be influential.
“The only visible and tangible result is the relations between China and Tajikistan. It also has a more bilateral aspect. The rest of the C5+1 formats with America, Europe and Russia are nothing more than a meeting for the sake of a meeting for Tajikistan. Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan may have benefited from these meetings, as they own the economy. Although direct relations with the West are significant there as well,” said Sherzamonov.
Akram Karimi, the ambassador of Tajikistan to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, who participated in the event, said that this year a new process of integration between the countries of “Central Asia and the Arab countries of the Persian Gulf” was launched. He hopes that Saudi Arabia, which is the 20th largest economy in the world, can help attract Arab capital to Tajikistan’s economy.
Source : Радио Озоди
