At the Qasri Millat residence in Dushanbe on Friday, the official meeting of Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, who arrived in Tajikistan on a state visit, was held. An honor guard was held to welcome the honored guest, the Uzbek leader's press service reported.
Shavkat Mirziyoyev and Emomali Rahmon held a narrow format meeting, which the Uzbek leader called long-awaited for the peoples of the two countries.
"Therefore, we have a tremendous responsibility: we need not only make up lost time, but also elevate our to a totally new level," Shavkat Mirziyoyev said.
The last year’s meetings of the two leaders raised the level of political confidence and gave new impetus to the development of Uzbek-Tajik ties.
In 2017, the two-way trade turnover reached US$ 240 million, the highest value for the last 20 years.
Resumption of flights between the two capitals, restoration of Galaba-Amuzang railway, opening of A-377 international highway on the Samarkand-Penjikent section, and the recent resumption of border checkpoints were among the achievements since the change of the leadership in Uzbekistan.
"Economy is our priority. We will create all conditions for expanding trade and economic cooperation,” the Uzbek President noted.
Uzbekistan expressed interest in advancing cooperation between the regions and major companies of the two countries and proposed projects to assemble agromachineries, production of building materials, textile and electrical products, and food products.
The strategic area is the cooperation in the field of transport and transit. It was noted that Uzbekistan set the good ties and cooperation with its neighbors as the main priority of its foreign policy. In this context, the signing of the Uzbek-Tajik state border treaty and introduction of visa-free regime for citizens of both countries for up to 30 days will be historic events.
The governments of the two countries have been instructed to work out the ways to increase the volume of trade and diversifying its structure and the ways to tap the unused reserves, and an initiative on creation of various joint working groups was put forward.
