Russia has not considered and does not consider Central Asia as an arena for geopolitical confrontation, and is interested in the development of all Central Asian countries, Federation Council Speaker Valentina Matviyenko said on Thursday during a plenary session of the Inter-Parliamentary Forum of Central Asia and the Russian Federation.
"Russia, of course, is interested in the comprehensive development of all Central Asian states, increasing the well-being and security of the region. I especially want to emphasize that the Russian Federation has not considered and does not consider Central Asia as an arena for geopolitical confrontation, traditionally respects the right of the states of the region to sovereign development and welcomes trends towards strengthening inter-regional integration," Matviyenko said.
According to her, regional security challenges require special attention. "We are talking, first of all, about comprehensive work to counteract international terrorism, extremism, violent overthrow of power, attempts of coups d'etat. We are interested in the constant development of multilateral dialogue on these issues, the maintenance of cooperation mechanisms such as the CSTO, the SCO, the meetings on interaction and confidence-building measures in Asia," Matviyenko added.
According to the Speaker of the Federation Council, today Russia's relations with the countries of the Central Asian region are of a strategic partnership nature. "A special tone of trust is set by the leaders of our states, who maintain an ongoing dialogue," she stressed.
As Matviyenko noted, in 2021, Russia's trade turnover with Central Asian countries amounted to about $37 billion, "significantly exceeding the figures in the previous period." "With the participation of Russian capital there are almost 17 thousand enterprises in the region. Despite the impressive figures, the potential of our economic cooperation is far from being fully realized. One of the main tasks of parliamentarians is to help unlock it, using the opportunities we have," Matviyenko concluded.
GSV "Russia - Islamic world"
Photo: Federation Council
Based on materials from TASS