On February 17, President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov has received Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Uzbekistan Abdulaziz Kamilov, who arrived in our country on a working visit.

Expressing gratitude for the opportunity to meet in person, the guest has conveyed warm greetings to the head of Turkmenistan from President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev, who addressed the leader of the nation and the brotherly Turkmen people with wishes of peace, wealth and prosperity.

The Foreign Minister of a friendly country has emphasized that Uzbekistan highly appreciates personal contribution of Turkmen leader to the development of relations of friendship and brotherhood between our peoples and that trustful, open and constructive political dialogue, which has been achieved on the highest state level, is the main factor in strengthening of strategic partnership both in the bilateral and multilateral formats.

Having expressed gratitude for good words, President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov conveyed best wishes to the Government officials and people of the friendly country and said that development of fruitful cooperation with neighboring states, including Uzbekistan is one of the priority vectors of the national foreign policy is.

Continuing the conversation, the sides have exchanged the views on topical issues of the regional and global agenda, which present mutual interest. It was mentioned that successfully interacting on a bilateral and multilateral basis, our countries demonstrate a similarity or coincidence of views on many contemporary issues. In this regard, high level of trust and mutual support in the international arena has been stated and the desire to strengthen interaction within the framework of authoritative international structures including the UN, CIS, International Fund for Saving the Aral Sea and others has been confirmed for provision of peace, stability and progress.

It was emphasized that both countries pays great importance to strengthening of cooperation in solving common problems of the region, where saving the Aral Sea and rational use of water are among the most important issues.

Cooperation in regional security and stability and in this regard, rendering of assistance to neighboring Afghanistan, were separate topics of discussion. The sides have noted that cooperation in this direction would be continued both on bilateral and multilateral basis as well as on international arena.

The head of Uzbekistan’s Foreign Ministry has stressed the importance of the peacekeeping initiatives put forward by Turkmen leader including the timely initiative to declare 2021 as International Year of Peace and Trust, which was supported by the world community.

Uzbekistan fully supports strategic initiatives put forward by the head of Turkmenistan at the 75th session of the UN General Assembly.

Continuing the meeting, the sides have discussed the possibilities of expanding bilateral economic and investment partnership, the main aspect of which is joint activities in gas, electricity, transport and communication industries, trade, agricultural industrial and other spheres along with political and diplomatic subjects.

It is worth to highlight that the trade between Turkmenistan and the Republic of Uzbekistan has been increased by 8.6 percent in 2020.

In this context, positive feedback has been given to activity of the Intergovernmental Turkmen-Uzbek Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific, Technical and Cultural Cooperation, as well as Turkmenistan-Uzbekistan Business Council, the first meeting of which was held in video conference format on October 7 last year.

The Foreign Minister has emphasized that Uzbekistan actively supports large projects initiated by Turkmen leader, which are aimed at consolidation of transport systems of Asia and Europe, the Middle and Far East, which are designed to increase international transit cargo flows, promote sustainable development, social and economic prosperity of the countries of Central Asia and neighboring regions.

The guest has noted that his country highly appreciates economic successes of Turkmenistan in the past year, which has been achieved despite global economic recession caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, having expressed his hope that outlined common plans and projects would be successfully implemented.

The importance of fruitful cooperation in humanitarian field, which is based on the historically established community of cultural and spiritual traditions that have united the peoples of two countries for centuries, has also been noted.

Speaking of this, President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov has noted that big Uzbek diaspora lives in the Dashoguz Region in friendship and brotherhood with Turkmen people. They make a huge contribution to the prosperity of our country by their joint work. The award of the best district of 2020, which was awarded to S.A. Niyazov district, Dashoguz Region following the results of special contest, is one of the examples.

The opening a street and alley named after Turkmen poet, philosopher and classic of literature Magtumguly Fragi, a bas-relief with his image and Ashgabat Park in Tashkent is a vivid symbol of friendship, unity and cultural proximity of people.

In turn, Ashgabat has Alisher Navoi Street, a monument to whom is also installed on the Alley of Inspiration in the capital.

The sides have made a number of proposals for the further development of cultural and humanitarian dialogue. In particular, Turkmen leader has noted that a park named "Tashkent" would be built in Ashgabat.

In addition, the President of Turkmenistan and his guest were unanimous in their opinion to continue successful practice of holding regular meetings of creative and scientific figures, Days of Culture, exhibitions, concerts, festivals contributing to the preservation of common heritage and strengthening of the ties of friendship between Turkmen and Uzbek people. In this context, the relevance of joint anniversary celebrations in honor of outstanding personalities who left their traces in world history and culture, including the great statesman, poet and writer of Uzbekistan Zakhiriddin Muhammad Babur, has been emphasized.

Expressing satisfaction with progressive dynamics of development of Turkmen-Uzbek cooperation, including cooperation under major international organizations and regional structures, the head of the state and his guest have confirmed their interest in diversification of mutually beneficial partnership, which has a huge, time-demanded potential.

In the end of the meeting, President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Uzbekistan Abdulaziz Kamilov have expressed confidence that relations between two states, which are built on long-term principles and sealed by strong ties of friendship, would be continued to be developed successfully for the benefit of fraternal nations.