President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev on Tuesday received the Deputy Chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers - Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan Rashid Meredov, who arrived in Tashkent on a working visit.

The head of state expressed his deep respect and conveyed warm greetings to the friendly Turkmen people and to the President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov.

The sides noted with great satisfaction the dynamically developing and strengthening bilateral ties in the political, trade-economic, transport-communication and cultural-humanitarian fields.

It was stressed that the first state visit of the President of Uzbekistan to Turkmenistan in March, working meetings in the Avaza tourist zone and in Astana, Kazakhstan in May-June, as well as regular contacts between the leaders of the two countries have taken the Uzbek-Turkmen cooperation to a qualitatively new level and ensure the practical implementation of the provisions of the Treaty on Strategic Partnership.

In line with the signed accords, companies and enterprises of Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan are currently implementing $ 200 million worth of trade accords.

Comprehensive and long-term cooperation has been established in the field of agricultural machine building - a new batch of cotton harvesting machines, cultivators and other modern equipment has been delivered to Turkmenistan. This month, the Uzbek Trade and Service Center will start its operations in Ashgabat.

Turkmenistan railways rolling stock is being repair and modernized at the repair companies of Uzbekistan Railways.

Opening of the Turkmenabad-Farab road and rail bridges has significantly increased the volumes of transit freights between the countries. By rail alone the transit of Uzbek cargo through Turkmenistan increased by 25 percent.

The sides discussed the ways of expanding practical cooperation between the two countries, to identify new cooperation areas and to jointly implement promising projects aimed at strengthening the strategic partnership.

The sides also exchanged views on topical regional and international issues.

Rashid Meredov conveyed the words of deep respect and best wishes of President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov to the people of Uzbekistan and its leader - President Shavkat Mirziyoyev. He confirmed the readiness of the Turkmen side to further advance full-scale cooperation between the two states.