President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov arrived September 11 in the capital of Tajikistan to take part in a regular session of the Council of the Heads of State of Shanghai Cooperation Organization.

President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov arrived September 11 in the capital of Tajikistan to take part in a regular session of the Council of the Heads of State of Shanghai Cooperation Organization.

This year, the meeting of the highest decision-making body of the SCO is taking place in Tajikistan as part of the latter’s presidency in the organization.

Upon arrival in Dushanbe, President Islam Karimov met with President of the Islamic Republic of Iran Hassan Rouhani, who arrived here to attend the summit as head of an observer nation in the SCO. The two sides discussed the current state of bilateral relations across a variety of spheres, and exchanged views on their further development, including in the trade and economic realm.

A prospective dimension of the bilateral cooperation is the transport and communications sector. In 2001, an agreement was signed to establish a railway corridor along Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Iran and Oman. It is worth mentioning that the initiative (timely, as it is noted by countries participating in the project) of launching this trans-regional transport corridor comes from the President of Uzbekistan. The scheme is expected to facilitate further expansion of mutually advantageous trade-economic ties between the nations of Central Asia and the Near and Middle East. The economic potential of this project, as experts suggest, is rather high, because the convenient access to new markets may eventually attract, for instance, China and Russia.

Later that day, the President of Uzbekistan met with the President of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon. The heads of our two states exchanged views across a variety of issues in the bilateral and regional agenda, including the situation in Afghanistan.

During the meeting, the President of Tajikistan expressed gratitude for a meaningful conversation. At the sate time, Emomali Rahmon stressed the timeliness and effectiveness of the constructive initiatives of Uzbekistan dedicated to uplifting the international standing of the SCO.

Following the negotiations with the host of the summit meeting, President Islam Karimov held talks with President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin.

To date, the relations between our two nations are characterized with a mutually advantageous orientation. Trade and economic bonds have been advancing dynamically, which is suggestive by the volume of bilateral turnover that amounted to 7.1 billion US dollars in 2013. An important factor in this is the agreement and normative base that comprises almost 200 interstate, intergovernmental and interagency deals and treaties.

During what has been a detailed conversation, Islam Karimov and Vladimir Putin stated the importance of regular dialogue between the two countries.

The Uzbek leader’s visit to Dushanbe continues. The President of Uzbekistan is to take part September 12 in the 14th session of the Council of the Heads of State of Shanghai Cooperation Organization.