This week, our guest is Akram Umarov, First Vice Rector at the University of World Economy and Diplomacy and Deputy Director of the Institute for Advanced International Studies in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. We discuss Central Asian politics, Uzbekistan’s attitude toward the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, and the country’s relations with Russia, China, and the USA, among other subjects.

Time Stamps:

• 00:01:00 Fluency in four languages as a child in Samarkand  
• 00:02:54 Graduate studies in the West
• 00:06:43 Institute for Advanced International Studies
• 00:09:47 Japan’s interest in Central Asia 
• 00:11:30 Relations among Central Asian countries
• 00:18:54 Shanghai Cooperation Organization
• 00:24:09 Uzbekistan’s relations with Russia
• 00:36:26 Uzbekistan’s relations with China
• 00:45:03 Will China and Russia compete in Central Asia?
• 00:48:03 Uzbekistan’s relations with the US

*The Monterey Trialogue Podcast is hosted by the Middlebury Institute of International Studies and produced by University FM.