ven though the second part of July has already come to its end, still it seems to be worthy of referring to the event that took place during the first part of the month. The event is the Summit of so called "Shanghai Five" (further in the text -- G-5) that was held in Dushanbe on July 5. This time the President of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov also participated in the Summit of the leaders of the countries -- members of G-5. The presence at the Summit of the leader of Uzbekistan that formally does not have common border with China (common border with China is common feature of all the members of G-5) was explained by the President of Russia Vladimir Putin who said that it would be impossible to solve the problems of the region without participation of Uzbekistan.

The President of Uzbekistan was in the focus of attention during the Summit. This is also proven by the fact that he was communicating a lot with Vladimir Putin, who "in general, personally gave much attention to his Uzbek colleague, spoke to the latter on his way from the meeting attended only by the member-countries’ leaders to the enlarged session. Vladimir Putin was standing next to Islam Karimov at the final press-conference." As it was proposed by Islam Karimov the number of members of "Shanghai Five" was increased through including Uzbekistan, and the new entity was titled "Shanghai Forum" (the name was proposed by the President of Tajikistan Emomaly Rakhmonov).

It is possible to judge how important is the new alliance for Tashkent by the fact that the President of Uzbekistan preferred to attend the Summit in Dushanbe instead of attending the meeting with the new General Secretary of NATO George Robertson. "Islam Karimov, - "Nezavisimaya gazeta" writes, - considered it to be more important on that day to be closer to the leaders of Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrghyzstan, and Tajikistan and to negotiate with them the issues that were rather important for Uzbekistan. These were the issues related to security in the region, including international terrorism, religious and political extremism, separatism, and common struggle against drugs dealers and illegal arms trade." Whereas, the General Secretary of NATO had an opportunity to meet only with the Prime Minister of Uzbekistan Utkir Sultanov, defense minister Yuriy Agzamov, and the minister on emergency states Kosimov. It is necessary to mention also that during the previous visits to Uzbekistan of top representatives of NATO in 1996 and 1997 Islam Karimov always met with them. In his interview to the correspondent of "Ozodlik" radio station G. Robertson underlined that "joining a certain union, signing certain agreements in the sphere of security is the personal choice of each country; and the extent to which cooperation with the block will be improved depends also on the will of the Central Asian states." At the same time, according to Robertson, "NATO wants the Central Asian states to participate on a larger scale in the program of cooperation."

With this regard it is necessary to provide some information about the evolution of the purposes and objectives of G-5. The Agreement on increasing the level of trust in the military sphere on the border territories that initiated establishment of "Shanghai Five" was signed on April 26 in Shanghai City. During the next Summit that took place in Moscow in 1997 there was signed an Agreement on reduction of military forces on the common borders of the states members of G-5. As a result of the Summits in Almaty (1998) and Bishkek (1999) there were approved the documents regarding struggle against smuggling of drugs and against organized crime, on establishing strategic cooperation in economic sphere, including the one on restoration of the Great Silk Rout. Thus, before Summit-2000 in Dushanbe the relations between the member states of G-5 did not go out the framework of their territorial or economic interests.

At the same time, in Russia, most likely they have far going plans regarding the activities of G-5. Thus, on the eve of the visit to the Central Asia of the Secretary of State of the USA Madeleine Albright, the ministry of defense of Russia announced that Russia would want to see Uzbekistan as another member country of "Shanghai Five." Besides, the plans on increasing the number of members of G-5 include also the possibility that such countries as India, Iran, and Mongolia could also enter it. Recently the director of the department on international cooperation of the ministry of defense of Russia, general Leonid Ivashov, stated that Russia, China, and India have common purposes, and as a result, they are "ideological allies," and "Shanghai Five" may become an interesting and effective security system for the Central Asia."

It is necessary to review the change in the focus in cooperation between the states members of "Shanghai Forum" taking into consideration the above statements and plans. Thus, in Dushanbe the agenda included such issues as regulating the situation in Afghanistan and establishing an effective system of regional security. Besides, China and Russia both expressed their concern with regard to the fact that the USA were going to create the national system of anti-missile defense of the USA. With this regard during the Summit it was considered to be expedient to preserve 1997 year Agreement on anti-missile defense. The leaders of G-5 member countries underlined that nowadays their group would have a serious influence not only in the region, but also in the world. The present members of G-5 signed the final declaration that stated that it would be intolerable to allow to interfere with the internal affairs of other countries "under the excuse of humanitarian intervention and human rights protection." The last statement most likely supports the actions of Russia in Chechnya and also condemned the interference of NATO in Kosovo.

What is the basis for formation of the new strategic block? Most likely, all the countries that are its members have their own long-term plans. The main economic objective of China is the search for the sources of energy that could become alternatives allowing to solve the problem of the current dependence of the country on coal. The other economic objective is further expansion to the consumer markets of the Central Asian countries and Russia. The main political objective is to slow down the separatism tendency in Xinjiang-Uyghur autonomous district that is rich in natural resources, in particular, oil.

What are the objectives of Russia that is actively trying to increase the number of member states of G-5? Firstly, the actions of Russia in this strategic block are quite in line with the new policy of the country. This policy is characterized by cooling of the relations with the Western countries as well as by the attempts to gather its former friends. With this regard, it is just enough to recall the recent strict declarations made by the minister of foreign affairs of Russia Igor Ivanov. These remarks were addressed to those who could have negative attitude towards the reviving contacts between Moscow and Libya. Secondly, Russia is trying at least partially to get back its lost positions in the Central Asian region. This could be achieved through restoring its former influence. As a result, Russia could get an access to the mineral resources and markets of the Central Asian states. Thirdly, through increasing the number of member countries of G-5 by including into it India and in future, probably also Iran, Russia wants to balance the dominating position currently hold by China.

Finally, what are the advantages of the fact that Uzbekistan has joined G-5? The initiative of Russia on including Uzbekistan into "Shanghai Forum" is symbolic at least because of the fact that it changes the basis of the block formation (instead of common borders -- common regional and global interests). Special relations between Vladimir Putin and Islam Karimov during the Summit demonstrated through whom most likely Moscow was going to carry out its policy in the Central Asia. The attention paid by the President of Russia to the President of Uzbekistan could be caused also by the fact that from 1990th the Uzbek leader was meeting Chinese leaders more often than anybody else except for the leaders of CIS countries.

Deteriorating economic situation and fear of destabilization force the authorities of Uzbekistan not only to search actively for both outside (Afghan Talibs) and inside (religious fanatics, vahhabbits) enemies, but also try to get support from the powers that be. As it turned out recently, Uzbekistan can hardly rely on support from the USA and NATO. This can be explained by the fact that there is a big geographical distance between them and Uzbekistan. Besides, there are also some problems of humanitarian nature (in exchange for the support the western allies would demand political liberalization in Uzbekistan). The fact that Uzbekistan has joined G-5 should be viewed from this point of view. The support that can be obtained from such a powerful block may become a strong argument in preserving stability that is the keystone of the policy carried out by the authorities of Uzbekistan.