From the UN podium, Saida Mirziyoyeva calls for openness and dialogue

Saida Mirziyoyeva, Head of the Administration of the President of Uzbekistan, spoke at the General Debate of the 81st Session of the UN General Assembly.

Presenting Uzbekistan’s position to delegates, she reflected on global conflicts and echoed President Shavkat Mirziyoyev’s policy of openness and dialogue.

“We see: Countries are posed with the question, ‘Which side do you choose?’ Uzbekistan’s response is clear. Our choice is human dignity. We choose young people who are determined to pursue education, acquire a profession and define their own future. Because we do not measure the true strength of a statehood by its military or economic capacity. The country’s might is determined, first and foremost, by the extent to which it can protect human dignity, rights, and interests. Therefore, we view peace, development, and human dignity not as three separate goals, but as a single, unified task,” she said.

Ms. Mirziyoyeva also offered lessons from Central Asia, particularly on climate change.

“Central Asia has another lesson that it can offer the whole world,” she said, noting that the Aral Sea “did not dry up due to a natural disaster” but as a consequence of decades of “unjust treatment of nature.”

She reaffirmed that Uzbekistan does not want the Aral Sea to remain merely a symbol of environmental tragedy, but to become a testing ground for environmental solutions.

 

 

Watch Saida Mirziyoyeva’s full speech:

https://webtv.un.org/en/asset/k18/k18kiw4fqg