On May 14, AFPC’s CACI held a forum with the Atlantic Council titled “Opening in Uzbekistan: A Preview of President Mirziyoyev’s Visit.” Amb. John Herbst, the Director of the Atlantic Council's Eurasia Center, moderated the event, which featured presentations by: Sodiq Sofoev, the First Deputy Chairman of the Uzbek Senate; Akmal Saidov, a parliamentarian and the Director of Uzbekistan's National Human Rights Centre; the Uzbek president's Special Representative for Afghanistan, Ismatulla Irgashev; Eldor Aripov, the Director of the Uzbek Foreign Ministry's Information and Analytical Center for International Relations; National Security Council Senior Director for South and Central Asia Lisa Curtis; and CACI Chairman Frederick Starr.
The panel discussed the then-upcoming Washington, DC visit of President Shavkat Mirziyoyev of Uzbekistan, and the country's extensive new reform effort, which has expanded the potential for international cooperation and foreign direct investment, and improved the prospects for solving historically-thorny regional issues such as border demarcation, water allocation, and peace building in Afghanistan.
