After I traveled to Uzbekistan, I wasn’t simply visiting a distant nation. I used to be witnessing a robust story of rebirth — one which displays the values, variety, and spirit of New York Metropolis. What I noticed there deserves the eye of each New Yorker, as a result of Uzbekistan is not only a nation midway around the globe; it’s a part of our metropolis, a part of our neighborhoods, and a part of our future.
For a lot of Individuals, Uzbekistan has lengthy been misunderstood. It was as soon as a closed republic of the Soviet Union — remoted, constrained, and overshadowed by the legacy of communism. However the nation I visited is one thing vastly completely different. Uzbekistan at present is charting a daring new path: increasing its economic system, defending employees, empowering girls, and embracing modernization with out sacrificing cultural or spiritual identification.
One of many first issues that struck me was this: Uzbekistan is a Muslim-majority nation with out extremism. Its folks follow their religion with peace, dignity, and delight. Underneath the management of President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, the nation has ensured there is no such thing as a division, no radicalism, and no suppression of different religions. Mosques, synagogues, and church buildings stand collectively — not as symbols of battle, however as proof that coexistence is feasible.
That message issues at a second when too many individuals attempt to divide us based mostly on religion. In Uzbekistan, I noticed the other. I noticed unity. I noticed concord. And as mayor of essentially the most various metropolis on this planet, I felt proper at dwelling.
Uzbekistan can be dedicated to reforms that align with our values right here in New York. Saida Mirziyoyeva, the President’s daughter, has performed a number one function in main reforms, together with the elimination of kid labor within the cotton business — a sector that when trusted it. Ladies are taking management positions in authorities, enterprise, medication, and training. Entrepreneurs are beginning new enterprises. Overseas funding is rising. And the nation is constructing partnerships with America that deliver stability, alternative, and mutual respect.
And similar to earlier generations of immigrants from Italy, Eire, the Caribbean, Latin America, and Asia — the Uzbek neighborhood has develop into an necessary a part of New York Metropolis’s identification. Tens of 1000’s of Uzbek New Yorkers reside in Brooklyn, Queens, and Staten Island. They personal eating places, supermarkets, pharmacies, transportation firms, tech start-ups, and building companies. They enrich our cultural life, gasoline our economic system, and assist maintain this metropolis operating each single day.
My go to was not nearly diplomacy — it was about recognizing that Uzbekistan is already a part of the New York story. After I met with leaders, enterprise homeowners, and younger folks in Tashkent, Samarkand, and Bukhara, I noticed the identical dedication, the identical hope, and the identical grit that constructed our metropolis block by block.
Uzbekistan’s financial transformation opens doorways for New York’s enterprise neighborhood as nicely. Clear power, agriculture, expertise, logistics, and tourism are increasing quickly. American firms, together with companies based mostly in our metropolis, will be companions on this progress. Strengthening ties means jobs, commerce, cultural exchanges, and new alternatives for New Yorkers.
However past economics, there’s a deeper lesson. Uzbekistan is a rustic rising from many years of management, selecting democracy over isolation, selecting empowerment over suppression, selecting unity over division. They’re constructing a nation that displays lots of the identical values we battle for in New York: equity, alternative, variety, and respect.
As mayor, I say this clearly: No religion, no tradition, and no neighborhood ought to ever be demonized. Uzbekistan proves {that a} Muslim-majority nation will be peaceable, progressive, and profoundly dedicated to human rights and financial freedom. And their rising neighborhood in New York exhibits that immigration continues to be one in every of our best strengths — not a weak point.
New York Metropolis has all the time been outlined by its international connections. We’re the town of Italians, Irish, Jews, Chinese language, Russians, West Indians, Dominicans, Mexicans, Nigerians — and now, proudly, Uzbeks. Each wave of immigrants has contributed to our industries, our tradition, our meals, and our success. Uzbekistan’s neighborhood is not any completely different. They’re the most recent chapter within the story of the best melting pot on this planet.
My go to to Uzbekistan was not merely about wanting outward — it was about wanting inward, and recognizing who we’re as a metropolis. Uzbekistan’s story of reinvention after communism is a reminder that progress is feasible anyplace. And their partnership with New York exhibits that irrespective of how distant a nation could also be, its folks can discover a dwelling proper right here.
And as I close to the top of my mayoralty, moments just like the close to riot at Park East Synagogue remind us simply how fragile unity will be — and why we must not ever give in to hate. The trail ahead for New York is similar lesson I noticed in Uzbekistan: when folks of various faiths and backgrounds select peace over division, dignity over anger, and understanding over concern, a stronger, extra compassionate society is feasible.
New York Metropolis is strongest after we construct bridges, not partitions. Uzbekistan has a narrative price telling — and New Yorkers deserve to listen to it. As a result of our variety is just not an impediment; it’s our superpower. And Uzbekistan is now a part of that highly effective, unstoppable New York story.
