182 Himalayan and Central Asian Studies Vol. 19, Nos. 3-4, July-Dec. 2015 UZBEKISTAN AND THE UNITED NATIONS OYBEK ABDIMUMINOV After the disintegration of the Soviet Union and independence of Central Asian Republics, the process of creating new national state formations began. The Central Asian Republics established contacts with foreign countries and international organizations and started to form a system of interstate relations among themselves. Geopolitical importance of Central Asia and role of UN Central Asia is an important region in international affairs. Newly independent Central Asian countries of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan are facing complex political, economic and social transformation. 1 From the beginning of the 1990s, the Central Asian states have sought a new model of development. The countries of the region have common social, economic, environmental and political problems and cooperation is necessary to solve these problems. Central Asian states have developed relations and joint programmes with the United Nations, European Union (EU), Asian Development Bank (ADB), and other international organizations. The Central Asian republics became member of the United Nations Organisation in March 1992 at the 46 th Session of the UN General Assembly. During these years, close contacts have been established with all main structures of the Organisation. The United Nations Office opened offices in the Central Asian Republics in 1993. Today, there are UN programmers, funds and agencies operating in Central Asia. The UN system in Central Asian countries works to support the national reform efforts. Under the UN auspices, Central Asian nations are actively involved in discussing and resolving international and regional issues, such as security and environmental crises. At the same time, analysis of the UN activity in Central Asia has shown that the