Co-organized with the Center for Strategic Studies under Afghanistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the event brought together representatives of the Embassy of Afghanistan in Uzbekistan and leading experts and scholars from both countries.

In his opening remarks, Javlon Vakhabov, Director of the International Institute for Central Asia, congratulated Afghan representatives on the successful convening of the first Central Asia–Afghanistan Consultative Dialogue in Kabul. He noted that holding the dialogue at a high level and ensuring a substantive agenda clearly demonstrated Afghanistan’s commitment to open, pragmatic, and constructive engagement with the countries of the region.

“We attach particular importance to cooperation between think tanks in further advancing our partnership. The expert community plays a crucial role not only in providing intellectual support for political dialogue, but also in generating new ideas and practical proposals for promising areas of bilateral and regional cooperation,” he said.

For his part, Abdul Hai Qanit, Director of the Center for Strategic Studies, emphasized the key and in many ways decisive role of Shavkat Mirziyoyev in fostering Afghanistan’s rapprochement with Central Asian countries and promoting a new model of regional cooperation.

According to him, it was at the initiative of the President of Uzbekistan that an economy-driven approach began to take shape, giving fresh momentum to regional interaction and contributing to a more pragmatic cooperation agenda with Afghanistan. This, in turn, laid the groundwork for further deepening a substantive and mutually beneficial partnership aligned with the shared interests of the region.

Concluding the roundtable, the parties reaffirmed their readiness to expand cooperation, intensify expert exchanges, and implement joint initiatives.