On June 9, in Tashkent, the Deputy Prime Minister/Minister of Investments and Foreign Trade S. Umurzakov hosted the Deputy Prime Minister/Minister of Foreign Affairs of the State of Qatar, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani.

The parties exchanged views on key issues on the agenda of bilateral cooperation and the prospects for deepening partnership between the two countries in the political, trade, economic, investment, transport, logistics and cultural and humanitarian spheres.

The parties highlighted the existing opportunities for the participation of Qatari companies in the implementation of projects in the energy, oil and gas, chemical and petrochemical sectors.

In order to deepen partnership in the investment sphere, an agreement was reached to step up talsk to agree on an Agreement on the Encouragement and Reciprocal Protection of Investments between the Republic of Uzbekistan and the State of Qatar. An agreement was reached on a joint study of possibilities for boosting trade, preparing proposals for eliminating existing trade barriers and substituting imports from third countries.

The parties, touching upon the sphere of transport and logistics cooperation, considered the prospects for Qatar's participation in the implementation of the Mazar-i-Sharif-Kabul-Peshawar railway construction project and outlined further steps in this area.

An agreement was reached on the development of partnership in the banking and financial sector. The Qatari side expressed its readiness to assist in attracting a number of Qatari banks for the introduction of Islamic banking in Uzbekistan.

Prospects for establishing cooperation in the field of tourism were also discussed, meaning the construction of modern hotels in major tourist cities of Uzbekistan, such as Samarkand, Bukhara, Khiva and others.