In fraternal relations, cooperation through public diplomacy and cultural exchange tools helps to build mutual understanding and trust

The Union's priorities include:
1. Strive to develop trade and economic cooperation, friendly and cultural exchange between the cities and regions along the Great Silk Road;
2. To actively promote and deepen friendship and mutual understanding between peoples, to establish communication and dialogue with the intention of joining the alliance of friendly cities, as well as to develop cooperation and exchange between educational and business institutions;
3. Establishment and development of cooperation between various institutions along the Great Silk Road at the initiative of the Union of Cities;
4. To share information and knowledge in the fields of economy, education, culture and art through this initiative.
The international conference on the theme "Joint development of the cities located along the Great Silk Road" held in 2019 within the framework of the alliance serves to further develop and strengthen fraternal ties. The Uzbek-Chinese business forum, which brought together more than 50 businessmen of the two countries, allows Samarkand, Kashkadarya and Bukhara regions to cooperate with more than 10 large Chinese companies (9 attachments).
Thus, as a result of cooperation with the Alliance, Uzbekistan has the opportunity to familiarize itself with its investment potential, opportunities for doing business in the country, and projects implemented with the participation of foreign investors. The export of agricultural products grown in Uzbekistan to the PRC in the near future, thanks to mutual cooperation, can greatly affect the financial potential of the country and ensure the well-being of the people.
As the epitome of modern civilization, cities are the center of economy, politics, science and technology, culture and education. Throughout history, industrialization and modernization of the country also manifests itself in the process of urbanization. Cooperation between the cities of Uzbekistan and South Korea can be seen in the exchange of information about guest delegations, sports teams, exhibitions, literature, movies, and city life. In particular, Tashkent and Seoul are the best examples of fraternal ties. In 2006, 2010, an agreement was signed between the two capital cities on the establishment of fraternal ties. It is significant that the priority aspects of cooperation between the two cities are focused on urban planning, architecture and landscape design, development of public transport and housing and communal economy based on modern technologies, electronic government, water resources management, environmental protection.
Today, city administrations are working on cooperation to create the concepts of "electronic government", "green city", and "safe city" of Tashkent. In order to implement these projects and launch the "digital office of the mayor" project (in 2018) in Tashkent city, Kim Yoo Shik, an expert of the Seoul city administration, was appointed as an adviser to the Tashkent mayor.Friendship Days and Weeks are held as one of the effective ways to connect with sister cities. These events serve to expand friendship and cooperation. Also, the "Seoul Friendship Fair" organized under the auspices of the Seoul City Hall is making a great contribution to expanding cultural ties and introducing the Korean people to Uzbek national music and folklore. In 2014, the "Seoul Park" was established in the Babur Park area of Tashkent with the participation of the leaders of the two cities. and today it has become a place where artists, artists and craftsmen of the two nations gather.
In Fergana region, sisterhood relations with Korean cities have a positive effect on the socio-economic development of the region. Fergana region established fraternal relations with South Korea's Yongin city in 2008, and businesswomen have a great place in the relations between the two regions. Businesswomen of the Business Women's Union of Fergana region, who are engaged in their activities in the fields of clothing production, agriculture, medical services and other fields, regularly work with their partners in Korea. Also, cultural days and national holidays (in 2011, 2012, 2013) are constantly celebrated as part of delegation exchanges between cities through public diplomacy.
As a result of the establishment of fraternal relations between the city of Fergana and the Yongsan district of South Korea in 2012, companies such as "Sayqal" and "Atlant" are working with Korean partners. "Sayqal" company is the first innovative enterprise in Uzbekistan that produces stone paper based on modern technologies.
9 thousand tons of paper are produced here in one year. Today, the demand for high-quality stone paper products is increasing all over the world, because it does not harm the environment, but uses ordinary stone or calcium.
Fergana region has been implementing many large projects for mutually beneficial cooperation in economic, social, cultural, entrepreneurship fields with Gwangju City Hall and Gwangju Chamber of Commerce and Industry, as well as turning Fergana region into an Investment Hub.
Based on the memorandum signed between Fergana region and Pocheon-si city government in recent years, mutual fraternal relations have been established between the city of Kokand and the city of Pocheon-si in order to develop economic, social, investment and tourism relations and establish close cooperation.
The search and development of new opportunities, areas that have not yet been used in the fraternal relations between the cities of the two countries can have good results. Korea is a highly technologically advanced country. Industrialized cities have a great place in the development of the country. Despite being a relatively small country in terms of territory, studying the achievements of urban management, urbanization, and industry of this country and adapting the acquired experience to the conditions of Uzbekistan can give good results.
In Japan, cities play an important role in the national economy and social development. According to 2013 data, cities and regions of the country have fraternal relations with 1617 cities and regions of foreign countries. The largest partners of Japan in this field are the USA (437), China (344), and South Korea (138).
The above 3 countries are also Japan's largest trading partners. Also, China and South Korea are Japan's closest neighbors. The fraternal relations with the cities of these countries bring not only financial benefits for Japan, but also allow to maintain an atmosphere of regional security, fair competition, awareness of innovative technologies and mutual friendship.
Cooperation between Uzbekistan and Japan is developing based on the principles of mutual friendship, trust and equal partnership.Today, "roadmaps" have been developed between Tashkent region and Aichi prefecture, Tashkent and Nagoya, Samarkand and Nara cities for deepening trade-economic, cultural-humanitarian, scientific-technical cooperation. In particular, in Fergana region, relations with Japan have been established in many directions. An investment hub aimed at direct attraction of foreign investments was established in the region, and more than 161 million dollars of investment was attracted to this hub through sister cities and foreign businessmen of our country. It is planned to create more than 2,700 jobs by directing these funds to the opening of new enterprises and modernization of existing ones.
Also, this investment hub works with free economic zones and innovation centers in the region. An investment of 100,000 US dollars was attracted to the "Rishton-Tomioka" experimental park (3.5 hectares) established as a result of twinning relations between Rishton and Tomioka, Gunma prefecture of Japan. In the future, it is planned to increase the value of the project to 1 million dollars.
Twinning relations between cities of Uzbekistan and South-East Asian countries are poorly developed. To date, fraternal relations have not been established between the regions and cities of Uzbekistan and Malaysia. Despite the fact that this issue has been raised several times in meetings and meetings at the government level, no practical steps have been taken yet. This can be caused by several factors.
For example, the ambassador of Malaysia in Uzbekistan, Hendy Assan, said that a moratorium on the creation of "sister cities" between the territorial associations of the country and foreign countries was declared in Malaysia. Fraternal ties between Uzbekistan and Vietnamese cities are also weak. In 1981, Fergana region was considered a brother with Vietnam's Phioc Thanh region, but the practical effectiveness of mutual cooperation is not visible. Nevertheless, mutual cooperation between Uzbekistan and these two countries in other spheres of public diplomacy continues.
The analysis of materials related to the fraternal relations of the cities and regions of Uzbekistan with the administrative regions of China, South Korea, Japan, Malaysia and Vietnam shows that in addition to many positive works being carried out in this field of mutual cooperation, there are also many opportunities that have not yet been used. This can be explained by a number of factors.
Firstly, existing fraternal relations with cities and regions of China, South Korea and Japan are mainly limited to cultural and educational spheres. However, in this area, there are great opportunities to implement new branches and sectors of the economy of Uzbekistan, to implement effective projects in tourism, production, and light industry. The fact that 9 Chinese cities were included in the list of 15 cities of the world that will have a great impact on the world economy and GDP until 2030, compiled by "The Independent" publication in 2015, means that cooperation with them is promising in the future.
Secondly, despite the fact that Surkhandarya, Tashkent, Jizzakh and Navoi regions have fraternal relations with China, South Korea and Japan, rational use of fraternal opportunities has not been established.
Thirdly, the fact that Andijan, Kashkadarya, and Khorezm regions do not have any fraternal regions with the countries of the Far East can be considered as a negative situation. However, the share of these regions in the economy of our country and in various sectors has a high indicator. Based on the internal capabilities of these regions, the establishment of fraternal relations with the cities and regions of the Far Eastern countries can have a positive effect on the socio-economic development of the regions.
Fourth, the exchange of experiences in the socio-political spheres with the wider community of the Twin Cities is weak. In this regard, practical work through public diplomacy has not been well established.In order to further develop fraternal relations and expand the geography of the cities and regions of our country with the territories of foreign countries, the following actions can be carried out:
Firstly, it is necessary to coordinate the legal framework and organizational activities of this sector in order to increase the efficiency of the existing sister cities. In this case, using foreign experience, creating a non-governmental non-profit organization (for example, the National Association of Twin Cities of Uzbekistan) or establishing a department for working with twin cities within the committee of inter-national relations and friendly relations with foreign countries under the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Uzbekistan will also effectively promote the twinning relations of Uzbekistan's cities. can help.
Secondly, it is necessary to strengthen the international cooperation relations of the Twin Cities. For this, establishing contacts with international non-profit organizations in this field can be beneficial. The positive aspects of becoming a member of the World Federation of Sister Cities should be considered. Practical steps have been taken in this regard. In addition to creating new cooperation opportunities for Uzbekistan's Bukhara, Samarkand, Tashkent region and the city of Tashkent in the format of China's "Alliance of Silk Road Cities", the inclusion of Uzbekistan's cities of Khiva and Shahrisabz into the membership of this alliance will have a positive effect on the tourism and service sectors of the cities.
Thirdly, it is possible to expand cooperation between the cities of Uzbekistan by organizing the "Friendship Forum of Sister Cities" between cities and regions of foreign countries on July 30 - the "Day of International Friendship". In this case, using the experience of the city of Chicago in the USA will have a good effect. The advantage of the "Chicago model" is that cultural, socio-economic projects are constantly organized between sister cities. During the Soviet period, such systematic work was carried out in the fraternal relations between Tashkent and Seattle, but later these relations stopped.