"I was thinking about how we can preserve sovereignty." Interview with Yusuf Abdullayev, the first ambassador in the history of Uzbekistan

"I was thinking about how we would preserve our sovereignty." Interview with the first ambassador in the history of Uzbekistan, Yusuf Abdullayev

Professor Yusuf Abdullayev, a full member of the New York Academy of Sciences, the first rector of the Samarkand State Institute of Foreign Languages (1994−2003) and currently the rector of the Samarkand International Technological University, in an exclusive interview with Gazeta shared his experiences with the difficulties of establishing its diplomacy and opening its first embassy in the early years of independence, the importance of briefings and meetings with the media, and his memories of the extraordinary and autonomous embassy in Moscow.

— When our first president, Islam Abduganievich Karimov, declared independence, I was working as the first deputy minister of public education. Euphoria reigned throughout the Soviet space; everyone was declaring independence. Many people had the feeling that "now we will live well, we will decide our own destiny."

But independence is only the first stage. Based on my own experience, I was thinking about only one thing: what will we do next? There are a lot of independent states, 193 members of the UN - all of them are independent. But not all of them have managed to become sovereign. And this was the first word in our Constitution. That is, we determine our own domestic and foreign policy.

I remember what our first president said in those years: "If you want to be independent, really be." That is, make decisions yourself, do not let anyone give you orders, adequately represent your people, and let the people present themselves as real, not artificial, subjects of the world community. I was thinking deeply about how we can preserve this concept of independence.

— It was about 4:00 p.m. on June 11. Islam Abduganievich's assistant, the late Georgy Krainov, called me and said: "Yusuf Ne'matovich, you are being called to the sixth floor." At that time, the "sixth floor" was where Sharof Rashidov and Islam Karimov sat before moving to the Oqsaroy - it was clear to everyone that the head of state was calling.

When I entered before them, Islam Abduganievich said: "I am signing a decree on the appointment of you as the first ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary." At first I thought: "To which country?", because before that there had been various rumors. The man said: "To Russia."

Later, during one of his meetings with Russian President Boris Yeltsin, he said: "I highly appreciate Islam Abduganievich's decisive step in sending his first ambassador not to Washington or Ankara, but to Moscow."

Why to Russia? Of course, we were in the same place. This is not just a geographical concept. 54% of our foreign trade turnover was accounted for by Russia. For Russia at that time, we were only about 8.4%, but for us, 54% meant more than half. 70% of our cotton went entirely to Russia and was processed there. Not to mention oil, industry and other similar sectors. That is, Islam Abduganievich, as an economist, was guided, first of all, by the need to remain within the common economic space as much as possible. This was the most important issue.

In addition, we remained in the ruble zone for another two years after that. We received the ruble from Moscow. The famous Russian financier, Viktor Geraenko, known as "Hercules" (head of the Central Bank of Russia in 1992-1994 and 1998-2002), controlled all this. One of my most important tasks was to establish a personal relationship with him, and I succeeded. We developed a wonderful, mutually respectful relationship, which allowed us to positively resolve our requests regarding the ruble every time we turned to him, and he did not spare his help.

So, first of all, economic interests and maintaining the economic stability of our country were at the forefront. And this was directly related to Russia.

If we return to that day, Islam Abduganievich explained for 40 minutes what our position should be on Russia-Uzbekistan and, in general, international relations. He gave the following direction: "Try to hold on to your position as firmly as possible. It will be very difficult for you, because we are just forming all our foreign policy directions. Based on our traditions, strive to protect our state interests to the maximum."

After the interview, the man escorted me to the reception area and said, "I trust you 100 percent." That was a lot of trust.

When I returned to my office in the ministry, I was, in boxer parlance, "groggy," or in a stupor. Realizing that I couldn't sit in my office, I went home.

I took three books from my rich library. They were books written in the 11th century. The first was Yusuf Khos Hajib's "Kutadgu Bilig" ("Knowledge Leading to Happiness"), written in ancient Turkic in 1069.

The second was "Qabusnama," written in Persian by Kaykovus in Khorasan (Iran) around 1082. The third was "Siyosatnama," written in Persian in Isfahan by the Seljuk prime minister Nizam al-Mulk, a book of political science.

Yusuf Khos Hajib's book has a separate chapter on what an ambassador should be like. This book has been a model for me throughout my years of work. First of all, an ambassador must be a person of high education. He must be very polite, handsome, careful, attentive and able to communicate.

An ambassador must know science, astronomy, mathematics, and even know how to calculate square roots. This was written about the ambassador by the great ancestor of all Central Asian peoples 1000 years ago.

He especially emphasized that the ambassador should have a full stomach and sufficient provisions. That is, he should not think about material gain - what we now call corruption. He should not be exposed to any intrigues and provocations, and should never be under the influence of alcohol. If you drink - you lose your mind. If you lose your mind - you give up your will. And then your country will be discredited.

He even wrote that the ambassador should engage in sports, in particular, such sports of that time as horse racing, chess, archery. In our time, the most popular sport among ambassadors was tennis.

These three books became for me the main program that helped me fully feel the views, traditions and spirit of our people.

— It was I who presented the first letter of credence in the history of our diplomacy. Why is it called a letter of credence? Because it says: "Your Excellency, esteemed Boris Nikolayevich, sending Abdullayev Yusuf Ne'matovich as ambassador to the Russian Federation, I ask you to trust his every word. I ask you to trust him, because he speaks on behalf of the president and government of the country." "Trust his every word" - can you imagine how great a responsibility this document carries?!

After presenting the first credentials in the history of our diplomacy to the Russian leadership in the Kremlin, I came to the embassy and gathered part of the team.

"Friends, today we had the honor of presenting our credentials to the Russian leadership, and now we are de jure, officially, representatives of the first Uzbek embassy with you. My request to you is that the prestige of our state will depend on how you fulfill your powers."

Do you know who I called first? The cleaners, drivers, and guards. Do you remember Stanislavsky's famous saying, "The theater begins with a clothes hanger"? I also told them: "Our embassy begins with you." This was the first step.

I also remember this day because I wrote letters of gratitude to the people who worked at the Permanent Representation of the Council of Ministers of the Uzbek SSR under the Council of Ministers of the USSR (where it was called the "post-representation" for 50 years) before it became an embassy. Thanking them, I said: "You laid the foundation and made a significant contribution to the reputation." In this way, I expressed my gratitude to my five predecessors who were alive at that time. This is how my first working day went.

— Before leaving for Moscow, we sat down with Sergei Rosenfeld, a lawyer at our ministry, and developed the first regulations on the embassy. There were no regulations on the embassy yet. That is, as Deng Xiaoping said about the Chinese reforms: "Our reforms can be compared to crossing a river by feeling for stones." We were also groping for the same stones, not even imagining what an embassy was.

Those who graduated from the University of World Economy and Diplomacy (WED) and later worked in diplomacy are called career diplomats. During the Soviet Union, we did not have a single cadre who graduated from MGIMO or the then WED. Our diplomatic university was founded in the fall of 1992.

Some of the employees, although not professional diplomats, worked in the USSR Foreign Ministry, while others were recommended by ministries, departments, and our Ministry of Foreign Affairs. My PhD thesis was on Iranian foreign policy, I gave lectures on foreign policy, I worked at the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Academy of Sciences for 11 years, so I had a connection with foreign policy as an orientalist. But all the rest of our employees were young people who had just graduated.

Just as Russian classical literature grew out of Gogol's story "The Overcoat", so these young men grew out of the first embassy "overcoat". I can proudly say that seven of them became ambassadors extraordinary and plenipotentiary in other countries, including two in the United States. One of them - the whole of Uzbekistan should be proud of - became a legendary Uzbek diplomat, even the patriarch of diplomacy (because he is still in foreign policy), this is Abdulaziz Hafizovich Kamilov, who began his career as a foreign policy adviser, rose to a certain level for all of us, and served as the longest-serving Minister of Foreign Affairs.

At that time, everything was happening for the first time: including the formation of an embassy. During the period I worked, three or four foreign ministers changed, because we had almost no experience yet. It was a very difficult period when a new state and a new policy were being established.

In fact, before that, we both had and did not have a Ministry of Foreign Affairs. During the Soviet era, it existed, but it was not a full-fledged ministry. For example, when the leader of the Soviet Union Leonid Ilyich or someone else flew to India, he would land in Tashkent, rest, drink tea, gather strength and continue on his way to India.

That is, Tashkent served as a transit base in foreign policy. Yes, festivals and conferences of Asian and African countries were held there, but Tashkent as a subject was just a transit point. In fact, there was no ministry itself, it was a protocol ministry. Since 1991, independence has imposed responsibility and we have a powerful foreign policy office.

— It was not easy, but our consistent efforts have paid off. In the early days, we were constantly criticized, or rather, bombarded, in the press, especially in the so-called free press. I am recording a fact here. Because they breathed the air of freedom, and after the collapse of the Union, they suddenly understood this as unlimited freedom, permission for everything. Nevertheless, first of all, there are norms, journalistic ethics.

For example, if the magazine "Novoye Vremya" unexpectedly published an article about Uzbekistan and gave an unbiased assessment, I would meet with the editor-in-chief Pumpyansky and say: "You published an article, this is your opinion, but now I ask you to publish our opinion as well."

Or I would go to Tretyakov, the editor-in-chief of "Nezavisimaya Gazeta" and do the same thing. Let's say he would submit an article saying that "Uzbekistan is interfering in the internal affairs of Afghanistan or other neighbors." I would prepare a response material, and thanks to the solid evidence of our embassy, we would manage to publish our material in the same "Nezavisimaya Gazeta", in the same "Novoye Vremya", on the same page.

Or let's take "Trud", which was the largest circulation newspaper in Russia at that time. I would go to the editor-in-chief Potapov and solve the issue, and he would be forced to give us not just a refutation, but an article that would refute the slander against us. Therefore, a very serious struggle took place with the media, and in the end, mutual understanding was reached.

As for briefings and press conferences, Islam Abduganievich attached special importance to this issue. He clearly understood that we were just at the stage of finding a solution, and that there were 144 embassies in Moscow, representatives of all international organizations, including the UN, and that Moscow should be used to the maximum extent through the Uzbek embassy. We were given such an assignment.

We even started publishing a bulletin called "Republic of Uzbekistan". And every month we distributed our materials to all 144 embassies. Whether they had heard of Uzbekistan or not, our bulletin would be news to them. First, respect, that is, "they sent us a bulletin," and second, they would be aware of the latest events.

I remember the Chairman of the Supreme Council, Yuldoshev, calling and saying: "Yusuf Nematovich, there is an idea, you will come to all the sessions." Apparently, this was agreed upon with Islam Abduganievich. I would arrive the day before the session - whether it was the Constitution or some other important issue being discussed - I would participate for a day or two, immediately fly back and give briefings.

— Your last point is right, it really was. By inertia, it was perceived as almost the same thing: "We are Moscow, and you are so-and-so."

In 1992, when some opposition organizations emerged within the framework of the democratic process, they began to raise the issue of human rights in Uzbekistan. This was especially evident after the signing of the Treaty on Interstate Cooperation and Friendship by the two presidents, Karimov and Yeltsin, on May 30, 1992 - when I was still the first deputy minister. This treaty was 100% ratified by our parliament in the summer.

I became an ambassador and am now waiting for its ratification by the Russian parliament. At that time, there were riots in the Russian parliament, which later led to disagreements between Yeltsin and Khasbulatov, and even an attempt to stage a coup by the Supreme Council.

So, we are waiting for the ratification of the Russian side so that the document can have full legal force. Suddenly, one of the Russian deputies, Ponomarev, made a statement in one of the Russian newspapers: "No, we will not ratify, because human rights are being violated very seriously in Uzbekistan." Having read this, I understood that immediate action was needed.

I began to meet with people I knew from before throughout the Russian parliament. Before that, I had worked for three years in Moscow, in the party apparatus of the Central Committee of the CPSU (Communisticheskaya partiya Sovetskogo Soyuza - Communist Party of the Soviet Union). And through acquaintances, I tried to smooth out this tension as much as possible. I reached the special commission of the Committee on International Relations, reached an agreement with them and other departments. I even went to the Vice-Speaker Filatov, the Chairman of the Supreme Council Khasbulatov. He said: "We support. We will do everything for ratification."

At that moment, we encountered a major obstacle in the form of the Commission on Human Rights. They said: "We invite you to discuss this issue, and only then will we consider it in parliament." When I entered the room, there was a feeling that I was in a cage and that everyone was going to be thrown out. For an hour, we had a very decent and serious conversation. And I gradually felt that they were moving to our side. They began to think: "Indeed, there are shortcomings, but this is the situation in Russia itself, we are all going through a transition period."

The situation really softened, mutual understanding appeared, the provocations stopped. At that moment, a member of the commission, deputy Shustov, came in and said: "Yes, you started it? I thought everything was going well." After an hour of sincere conversation, everyone was already on our side. They looked at him, and he began to shake my hand very sharply and with great confidence.

I did not shake his hand. I just stood up and said: "Abdullaev Yusuf Nematovich, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Uzbekistan to the Russian Federation. Whom do I have the honor to talk to?" I said. Although I knew his last name and position well. And he was stunned. He did not expect this at all. He thought that he would be flattered now. And he sat down. From the very first days he had to overcome such obstacles and difficulties.

Before the start of the session of the Supreme Soviet of the Russian Federation, Ruslan Khasbulatov told me: "I am flying abroad now, so I will make this the first issue, I will have time to hold it, and after I leave, my deputy Filatov will continue the session." He deliberately brought the issue to the forefront and said: "In Uzbekistan, the deputies voted unanimously for this document, what about us?" In the hall, it seems, he had prepared the situation in advance. "We, we, we!" They said. Only one person abstained. All the other deputies voted 100 percent in favor.

From the very beginning, there were such obstacles and difficulties in this country. They perceived us like that and somewhere they considered us just a dependent territory and tried to show their hegemony. Nevertheless, Russia is a great country, there are enough smart and intelligent people there. The most important thing is that there was perfect mutual understanding between the two presidents, and all the other issues stemmed from this.

— First of all, they said: "You are stifling the opposition, you are not allowing it to speak, you are not registering it," although these organizations were already registered at that time. They were trying to cling to such elements.

But back in 1989 – on June 23, when Islam Abduganievich became the First Secretary of the Central Committee – one of his first instructions was: “Let’s give them airtime. They are our people too.” It was about “Birlik”, “Erk” and other opposition movements of that time: “let them express their opinion too.”

We see that the problems are the same: the problem of the Uzbek language, the problem of the Aral Sea, the problem of our military personnel serving in Russia, in the Soviet Union. Therefore, by inertia, they raised the same issues there.

But I want to say once again that the almost unanimous vote of the Russian deputies showed that we are gradually shaping Uzbekistan as a new – independent and sovereign Uzbekistan.

— The famous phrase “cadres decide everything” always retains its force. At that time, we had a very strong shortage of personnel. Therefore, first of all, it was necessary to form a team.

Despite the fact that we now represent another state, we agreed with the Diplomatic Academy of the Russian Foreign Ministry on free training for our entire diplomatic staff. After six in the evening, we would bring professors to the embassy and for a year we would learn the secrets of foreign policy and diplomacy. This was the most difficult part.

What else was important besides the economy? I would like to preserve our current state in the field of spiritual life, culture and education as much as possible. At least second or third secretaries came to the reception organized on the occasion of the first anniversary of independence. A year later, such first-class officials as the US Ambassador Thomas Pickering, the British Ambassador Brian Fall, and the French Ambassador Pierre Morel visited our embassy. This was a real recognition. However, what a huge amount of work and effort was behind it.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Kunadze said at the time: "I have never seen so many Russian Areopagus even at the American embassy." Only the three first leaders - Yeltsin [Chairman of the Russian Council of Ministers], Chernomyrdin and Khasbulatov - were absent that day. However, their deputies and other prominent statesmen came.

I made a special effort to preserve the spiritual atmosphere, these ties that serve to strengthen the position of our state. The selflessness of our people during the war years, when they provided shelter, had such a great resonance.

For example, when the great opera singer Irina Arkhipova spoke about being evacuated to Tashkent and studying at the architectural institute. Joseph Kobzon recalled: "I was a child, my mother barely got out of the train that was coming without stopping, you have a small town called Yangiyul, I lived there and they gave me shelter."

This was very valuable and served to further strengthen the foundation of our diplomacy in Russia.

— It was a very serious test for our team. Tanks were rolling outside the window, there was shooting, Ostankino was being besieged. After all, I went through the three-year Afghan war, I was in two hot spots, I witnessed the Karabakh events, and when I worked in Moscow during the Soviet era, I witnessed the Fergana tragedy in June 1989. But it was such a tension that there were military clashes right on the street. For the first time in my life after Afghanistan, I did not sleep for a day. I would tell the staff: "Go and rest."

Every half hour we would report to the center what was happening. Suddenly, one of the heads of the Uzbek Foreign Ministry called me and said: "Yusuf Nematovich, thank you, we are receiving information. Now we need more live information, we need to distribute employees throughout Moscow, it is very important to know the opinion of the population in this or that part of Moscow."

But at all stages of my life, I adhere to the principle of first understanding and passing any task through my heart.

And I had to tell him: "I'm sorry, but I can't complete this task."

— "Why?"

— "Tanks are moving outside the window, there is shooting."

— "More than 120 people died in Moscow. God forbid, if something happens to one of my employees, how will I look his wife and children in the face, how will I look him in the eye? Is this information worth the life of my employee? That's why I can't do it."

— "This is an order," they said on the phone.

— "I'm sorry, but I will not carry out this order."

I'm not a hero. I just consider myself an honest person. And in this situation I had to stand up to the end. He hung up.

About five minutes later, a special high-frequency telephone, which is only available to first-class people, rang. A familiar voice came from the receiver:

— "What's the matter?"

— "We're holding on."

— "Thank you, the information is very interesting, we are analyzing it. Events are developing in them, we did not want bloodshed at all, we did not expect this. The main task for you now is to protect the people and know that we are with you, the country is with you."

— "Thank you, Islam Abduganievich, we will carry out everything you said, all the instructions," I said and hung up.

A little later, one of the respected, unfortunately, now deceased heads of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs called again: "Yusuf Ne'matovich, what happened to our instruction?" I told him: "Your instruction was canceled." "Who canceled it?" "Islam Abduganievich. They said that no one should go out," I replied. "That's right, Yusuf Ne'matovich, protect the people," he said and quickly hung up. Look how quickly it has changed.

This is the truth of life, I want our people, especially the youth, to know this. Not everything in life is smooth sailing, diplomacy is not just receptions, invitations, signings and receptions. This is a complex, often precarious responsibility, whether you can save it or not, whether you can do it or not, whether you can defend the honor of the country. This is diplomacy.

— I remember one incident that was the most important event during my several years of work in Moscow. It was the organization of the state visit of Islam Abduganievich. During the period of my work, he visited Moscow five times, but only the fourth - on March 2-3, 1994 - was a state visit. And I am proud that our embassy organized the first state visit among the CIS countries, Islam Abduganievich became the first president to be received in Moscow on an official state visit.

A month before the visit, we were sitting with the head of the protocol service of the Russian Foreign Ministry and discussing the details. He said: "Well, Mr. Ambassador, the president will fly to Vnukovo. He will be met by the Deputy Prime Minister for Agriculture. Then we will take him and his wife to the President Hotel. Then everything will go according to protocol."

I listened to him carefully and said: "Are you finished?"

— "Yes."

— "Who came to you on a state visit a month ago?"

— "I don't remember."

— "Exactly on a state visit?"

— "There are many people who come to us."

— "Clinton. Where did you meet him? Not in Vnukovo, but in Sheremetyevo - an international, officially recognized airport. I ask you to meet our president at Sheremetyevo."

Clinton was met by an honor guard consisting of three branches of the Armed Forces. I would like our president to be met by the same honor guard.

"Where did you put Clinton and his wife Hillary? In the Kremlin. I would like our president to be put in the Kremlin too."

In the end, both Islam Abduganievich and Tatyana Akbarovna were placed in the Kremlin.

Then he said: "Yusuf Nematovich, after all, these are our people," I said: "Of course, ours. It is still the same now. But I ask that all protocols be followed here in accordance with the status of a sovereign state. Since you received the American president like this, I want our president to be received with the same protocol."

Similarly, during Chubais' privatization policy, he was forced to admit that our objects in Russia were still the property of Uzbekistan, and we said, "Don't just take them away." There were properties like our graduate school in Moscow or our sanatoriums in the Crimea and the Caucasus. When we had to prove this to all of them, we said: "Yes, it's understandable, but let's resolve all these issues only in the legal arena, within the framework of the law." And we managed to do it.

— My main task was not to get carried away with just collecting information, because we knew so much about Russia - we lived together within the framework of the Soviet Union. In addition, the Russian press wrote about everything that was possible and not possible. They had such freedom, and any information could be freely collected even through official channels.

I considered it my main task to preserve this territory as a place of friends through various ties.

It was important to maintain ties with our compatriots who had already become Russian citizens: the great immunologist academician Rakhim Haitov, the great endocrinologist academician Islambekov, the great Uzbek cosmonaut Vladimir Jonibekov, and many others. We opened a special Sunday school for their children to learn the Uzbek language. We held festivals. That is, we did everything possible to ensure that Russia remained, first of all, a friendly country. I think we managed to achieve this.

When I was returning, the US Ambassador Thomas Pickering noted in a letter to me that Uzbek-US relations had reached a new level through Moscow. The Russian Foreign Ministry organized a special reception at the level of Deputy Foreign Minister in connection with my departure.

The then Russian Foreign Minister Andrei Kozyrev was unable to attend this reception, but on the eve of my departure, on the very day of my departure, he suddenly called: "Yusuf Nematovich, can you come to the Foreign Ministry? Andrei Vladimirovich has arrived and wants to say goodbye to you personally." I went. He expressed high respect for Uzbekistan, our politics and our cooperation, and even though he himself was supposed to fly to another country with Yeltsin that day, he presented me with a souvenir with his name on it. I consider this a recognition that we have achieved something in strengthening the independence of our Uzbekistan.

As for the mistakes and shortcomings, our successors will evaluate this when they open the archives. I can say one thing: our team worked conscientiously and gave it their all. And, I think, we really had certain results.

— When something ends, something new begins. I always say: "This is not a legacy from our ancestors." You are appointed, and when the time comes, you will be transferred to another job.

I was offered another proposal. If we started with a letter of credence, then in diplomacy there is also the concept of a "letter of recall." This is when an ambassador hands over his authority and a new successor comes to replace him, he hands over his letter of credence, and also presents the letter of recall of the previous ambassador to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. My letter of recall said: "In order to further strengthen the higher education system of Uzbekistan, a decision was made to recall Yusuf Ne'matovich Abdullayev from the post of Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Uzbekistan to the Russian Federation and appoint him to a responsible position in this area." The letter of recall, like the letter of credence, is signed by the president.

So, with the blessing of Islam Abduganievich, I moved to the field of higher education. At first, I worked for about half a year as the head of the department for science and education at the Cabinet of Ministers. Then a presidential decree was issued on the establishment of the Samarkand State Institute of Foreign Languages - by the way, I prepared this decree myself, but I did not think that I would be sent - I was invited to go to Samarkand. And here I am, to this day, in the field of higher education.

— The first entry in my work book was made on June 1, 1963, when I was 16 years old: senior pioneer worker. And now, for 64 years, I have been working as a teacher. I worked in various positions: I was both a deputy minister and a head of a department at the Cabinet of Ministers. I have taught all my life: at the academy, in oriental studies, in the ministry, at the advanced training institute and other universities. And after the embassy, I founded the Samarkand Institute of Foreign Languages from scratch.

In general, I am proud that I was destined to start everything from scratch. In Afghanistan, in 1980-1983, I traveled not only around the country as a youth consultant - I am a veteran of the Afghan events - but I was also entrusted with the organization of the Youth Cadres Institute. There is a mountain in Kabul called Dehmazang, where the graves of Bogy Babur and Babur Mirza are located. Next to it used to be the Kabul Automotive Technical School. It was vacant because of the war, half of it was divided and I was entrusted with the organization of the institute. For this service, the then President of Afghanistan, Babrak Karmal, while presenting me with the Order of Friendship, said: "Comrade Abdullayev, I present you with the Order of Friendship No. 1."

They presented it - I opened the Samarkand Institute of Foreign Languages, became its first rector for almost nine years. Then I taught abroad for a long time, and when I returned, the Eriel company offered to establish the Eriel Prof Education corporate training center for its tens of thousands of employees. Then the initiative to establish a university was put forward.

On January 28, 2022, when Shavkat Miromonovich signed the development strategy for 2022−2026 - he is a very clear person, he always has two words: task and result - he set the task of establishing the Samarkand Technological University. The presidential decree indicated "in cooperation with leading technical universities of foreign countries." And we built it.

We have achieved great results in a short time: firstly, our education is conducted in English according to the American model, and the university has a truly international status. In a short time, we have attracted 95 foreign professors from 23 countries of the world. We have an exclusive engineering department - eleven engineering departments and a business school. All subjects are taught by foreigners. That is, as the president noted, we have created an engineering university that meets international standards.

— There is a classic expression in diplomacy: "Foreign policy is a continuation of domestic policy." Therefore, both then and now, the main goal is to serve the further advancement of the reforms of the new Uzbekistan.

It is necessary to involve foreign partners to the maximum extent. If we compare, the goals and tasks are the same: economic growth and prosperity, expanding the circle of friends, and maintaining peace and stability in our state ensuring.

On the eve of its 35th anniversary, Uzbekistan is distinguished by peace, stability and interethnic harmony. And this is the most important thing. I have seen the three-year events in Afghanistan, two hot spots, and I will soon turn 80, and based on my experience, I have the right to say these words: the greatest achievement in these 35 years is peace, stability and interethnic harmony.

— The people know what peace is. The people appreciate stability, they follow world events. I would rather say: "How beautiful this world is, just look."

Let's take a look at what is happening around us, in our immediate neighbors. And here the greatest merit of the new Uzbekistan is that - everyone recognizes this without exception - the Central Asian space has been consolidated. Our people are now freely traveling to Tajikistan and other neighboring countries. We have built such strong bonds of friendship over the past 10 years This is a great wealth. Until recently, those who moved from Tajikistan or other republics could not even get a passport for a long time. That is, relations have acquired a completely new meaning.

First of all, peace, harmony and stability in Central Asia. We have achieved this in Uzbekistan and surrounded ourselves with friends. Let's even take Afghanistan, which is so complex, controversial and raises many questions - according to the latest reports, more than 2.5 million girls cannot continue their education. But this is their internal affair. We do not interfere in the internal affairs of our neighbor. We can help it to get back on its feet and get out of economic stagnation as much as possible.

— According to the new Constitution of April 30, 2023, Uzbekistan is a sovereign, democratic, legal, social and secular state. We have fully achieved the first two: we have fully achieved our sovereignty to the whole world We have shown that democratic processes are also quite active.

2500 years ago, the ancient Greek philosopher Protagoras said: "Man is the measure of all things." Everything should be evaluated by the criterion of whether it is good or bad for a person, whether he lives decently or not.

Now it is necessary to realize the remaining principles to the maximum.

Legal: "Yes, I am a human being, I am protected."

Social: "Yes, I can support my family, I live decently, I am paid according to my labor, the state is truly a social state for my well-being."

Secularism is the strong preservation of religion as a spiritual factor that unites our nation and is a means of spiritual education.

I would like the next stage of our state to look like this, at least in the next 15-20 years.

Davlat Umarov talked.