The border dispute between Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan had dealt an immense blow to the regional integration efforts in Central Asia, with years of chronic uncertainty and potential conflict in the Ferghana Valley. However, developments in November 2025 signaled that this historical knot has now been untangled and that the region is on the verge of geopolitical transformation. This process reflects, in terms of international relations terminology, the concrete manifestation of a regionalism vision based on the principle of win-win cooperation and embracing a “zero problems with neighbors” policy.
The most concrete step in this historic turning point was the mutual exchange of the ratification documents by the foreign ministers from all three countries (Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan) in Tashkent on November 15, 2025. This diplomatic step, combined with the final approval by Uzbekistan President Shavkat Mirziyoyev on November 14,[i] is the legal registration of the process that began with the signatures of the leaders in Khujand on March 31, 2025, and was completed after tedious legislative processes. Approved by the 11th General Assembly of the Senate of Uzbekistan and legally finalized with the final exchange of documents on November 15, 2025,[ii] this process has, de jure and de facto,ended the border uncertainty in the Ferghana Valley, bringing the region to a ground of “institutional stability.”
This agreement is more than merely a technical border demarcation but rather the most concrete evidence of the will of the countries in the region to resolve even their most complex issues without external intervention, through “collective diplomacy” and political maturity, thus transforming the borders into “economic cooperation corridors.”[iii] As Minister Saidov has also emphasized, this “common political will” demonstrates that the borders between the three countries are shifting from being a line of tension to a permanent foundation of “good neighborhood relations” that ensures regional peace, stability, and economic integration.[iv]
The 7th Consultation Meeting held in Tashkent in the immediate aftermath of the border resolution has brought regional dynamics to a new level. President Mirziyoyev’s vision of a “Community of Central Asia” launched at this summit is seen as an announcement of the goal to transform the region from a consultative mechanism into an institutional “power bloc.”[v] The regional dialogue process, which President Mirziyoyev first initiated at the UN General Assembly in September 2017 and which was put into practice in Kazakhstan in March 2018, has taken its final institutional step with the “Community of Central Asia” initiative proposed at the Tashkent summit on November 16, 2025. This new architecture, which aims to be built on permanent bureaucratic columns such as the Secretariat, the Council of Elders, and Special Representatives, seeks to close the period of “consultation and declaration of intention” between 2017 and 2025 and transform the region into a “strategic alliance” structure equipped with institutional memory.[vi]
The political and legal groundwork for regional integration is simultaneously unfolding along geoeconomic and geopolitical axes. President Mirziyoyev’s “2035 Regional Trade and Economic Cooperation Program” and “Joint Declaration on Investment Areas,” presented at the Tashkent summit on November 16, 2025, are part of the strategy to shift Central Asia’s economic destiny away from national protectionism and towards an integrated “single market” approach.[vii] While this vision aims to transform the region from a merely raw material depot into a harmonized, predictable, and unified center of attraction for global capital, it also overcomes the opacity of the political borders with economic transparency, linking the construction of the “New Central Asia” to a concrete, long-term, and stringent economic agenda. This process is being reinforced by the increasing EU investments in the region, the intensifying cooperation with China, and the Belt and Road Initiative, as well as the new arrangements in global logistics systems and the approaching completion of alternative routes such as the Trump Route.
On the other hand, the Japarov-Wang Yi summit in Bishkek is a critical geopolitical milestone in that Kyrgyzstan has come under Beijing’s political guarantee “against external interference” and has irreversibly tied its logistical future to the East with the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan (CKU) railway project.[viii] China’s full support for Bishkek’s SCO chairmanship and the newly established “Strategic Dialogue of Foreign Ministers” mechanism are elevating the relationship beyond a mere commercial partnership to a “community of shared destiny.”
Regional cooperation has made progress not only in the economic and commercial spheres, but also in the areas of security and defense doctrine. The adoption of “the Regional Security and Stability Framework” and the 2026-2028 Risk Catalog at the meeting in Tashkent demonstrates the Central Asian governments’ goal of transforming the “consultation” mechanism into a shared security platform.[ix]
The process that began with the border deal in the Ferghana Valley and was institutionalized with the vision of the President of Uzbekistan for a “Community of Central Asia” shows that the region has undergone a historic transformation along the trajectory of active regionalism. This progress aims to create a “single market” through the “2035 Regional Trade and Economic Cooperation Program” and establish the groundwork for a common security doctrine through the “Regional Security and Stability Framework.” With Azerbaijan’s accession as a full member, the strategic ties across the Caspian are strengthening, while the backbone of the Turkic world is uniting and Kyrgyzstan’s logistical centrality is increasing with the CKU railway project.
The support given to Kyrgyzstan’s candidacy for the UN Security Council aims to certify the region’s determination to act with a “unified voice.” This extensive set of initiatives, supported by global dynamics, suggests a future in which Central Asia, as an independent power bloc of 80 million people, will assert its geopolitical leverage in a multilateral world order and continue its pursuit of strategic autonomy.
In conclusion, the November 2025 Tashkent Summit has institutionalized the active regionalism and win-win policy in Central Asia by resolving the border dispute between Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan. With President Mirziyoyev’s initial vision of a “Community of Central Asia,” the region is transforming into a strategic alliance with structures such as the Secretariat and the Council of Elders. The foundation of this alliance lies in economic integration through the “Common Investment Area 2035” and a common security doctrine through the “Regional Security Concept.”
[i] “Uzbekistan, Tadzhikistan i Kyrgyzstan zavershili ratifikatsiyu dogovora o tochke styka granits”, Gazeta Uz, https://www.gazeta.uz/ru/2025/11/18/border/, (Access Date: 20.11.2025).
[ii] “Senat odobril Zakon o ratifikatsii Dogovora o tochke styka gosudarstvennykh granits mezhdu Uzbekistanom, Kyrgyzstanom i Tadzhikistanom”, Senat Oliy Majlisa Respubliki Uzbekistan, https://senat.uz/ru/plenary-sessions/post-4331, (Access Date: 20.11.2025).
[iii] “Uzbekistan odobril dogovor o tochke styka granits s Kyrgyzstanom i Tadzhikistanom”, 24Kg, https://24.kg/vlast/351584_uzbekistan_odobril_dogovor_otochke_styika_granits_skyirgyizstanom_itadjikistanom/, (Access Date: 20.11.2025).
[iv] Adlet Seilkhanov, “Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan ratify agreement on border crossing point”, Kazinform, https://qazinform.com/news/kyrgyzstan-tajikistan-and-uzbekistan-ratify-agreement-on-border-crossing-point-ef9696, (Access Date: 20.11.2025).
[v] “Uzbekistan’s president touts setting up bloc of Central Asia’s post-Soviet republics”, TVP World, https://tvpworld.com/90048284/uzbek-president-proposes-setting-up-central-asian-states-bloc, (Access Date: 20.11.2025).
[vi] “Mirziyoev vystupil za sozdaniye platformy ‘Soobshchestvo Tsentral’noy Azii’”, TASS, https://tass.ru/mezhdunarodnaya-panorama/25638569, (Access Date: 20.11.2025).
[vii] Aleksandr Chernov, “Shavkat Mirziyoev predlozhil sozdat’ yedinoye investitsionnoye prostranstvo v Tsentral’noy Azii”, Gazeta Uz, https://www.gazeta.ru/social/news/2025/11/16/27195608.shtml, (Access Date: 20.11.2025).
[viii] “Kyrgyz president meets Chinese FM on strengthening cooperation”, News CN, https://english.news.cn/asiapacific/20251120/fadf483740084032b726b391a72c26e7/c.html, (Access Date: 20.11.2025).
[ix] “Lidery stran Tsentral’noy Azii prinyali kontseptsiyu regional’noy bezopasnosti i stabil’nosti”, TASS, https://tass.ru/mezhdunarodnaya-panorama/25638933, (Access Date: 20.11.2025).
