Uzbekistan's chairmanship in the SCO: Effective partnership, long-term goals and objectives in tourism and culture

Events organized within the framework of Uzbekistan's chairmanship in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization are continuing in the Tashkent. The agenda includes topical issues of strengthening co-operation in various areas, including cultural and humanitarian exchange.

Recently Tashkent hosted international tourism forum “A new stage of cooperation between the SCO countries: tourism and cultural heritage”. During the event, specific goals and objectives were developed, agreements were formed, which the parties will sign on the sidelines of the September Summit.

Heads of tourism administrations of the SCO member states discussed a new stage of cooperation in the field of tourism and cultural heritage, issues of deepening cooperation on the introduction of joint combined tourist routes, as well as expanding transport and logistics opportunities.

It was noted that the total space of the SCO member countries, stretching from the Arctic to the Indian Ocean and from Shanghai to Kaliningrad, includes more than 40 percent of the world's population. This is a huge tourism market, the potential of which should be fully realized in the coming years.

During three breakout sessions, discussions were held on new initiatives in the field of preserving cultural heritage, as well as prospects for cooperation in the field of archeology, museum work, education and science in the field of tourism.

According to the data announced at the forum, in 2019, about 250 million tourists left the SCO countries for holidays abroad. The largest number of travelers are from China. Uzbekistan is the center of the Great Silk Road and has attracted the attention of tourists from all over the world since ancient times.

Uzbekistan has been recognized as an attractive tourist destination by many authoritative publications such as The New York Times, The Guardian, The Independent, Global Muslim Travel Index, National Geographic Traveler Awards, Lonely Planet, and others. There are 8.4 thousand cultural heritage sites in the republic, 209 of them are located in four museum cities, which are included in the UNESCO World Heritage List.

At the meeting of the heads of tourism administrations of the SCO member states that preceded the forum, Aziz Abdukhakimov, Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Uzbekistan, Minister of Tourism and Cultural Heritage, noted that the task is to develop recommendations for improving the tourist and transport communication between the SCO countries along the combined routes, which are in great demand among foreign tourists.

In this direction, Uzbekistan is actively working with Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan on tourist routes in the Ferghana Valley, with Kazakhstan - along the tourist square Turkestan - Tashkent - Samarkand - Bukhara.

The tasks for the digitalization of the tourism industry, the use of “smart” and "green" technologies have also been identified. It is necessary to support the wider introduction of e-commerce in products and services, the provision of intellectual services in tourism, as well as to actively involve young people from the SCO countries in this process. In this regard, a separate section of the forum was devoted to education and scientific exchange.

International tourism has been showing constant growth over the past decades and has already become one of the drivers of the world economy and key factors of socio-economic progress, - A. Abdukhakimov emphasized. - For many countries, this industry is a priority among the sectors of the national economy, since it directly contributes to its growth, job creation, strengthening cultural ties in society.

Such tourist centers of Uzbekistan as Tashkent, Samarkand, Bukhara, Khiva, Shakhrisabz, Termez are known all over the world. And the country pays great attention to the preservation and restoration of cultural heritage of the Uzbek people. Architectural monuments built in the medieval Islamic style, as well as Christian and Buddhist ones, have been preserved and are the main attractions of the republic.

At the same time, Uzbekistan pays great attention to the development of gastronomic, health, pilgrimage, winter, mountain, agro-, ethno- and ecotourism, as well as archaeological and other types of tourism.

Speakers also dwelled on the topic of overcoming the crisis caused by the pandemic, which, in turn, provided an opportunity to rethink the activities of the sphere from the point of view of security and sustainable development.

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