Azerbaijan's AZAL national airline is set to launch twice-a-week flights to Samarkand from October. Azerbaijan Airlines (AZAL) will also increase the frequency of Baku to Tashkent flights to 5 times a week.

Organization of the first European Union - Central Asia ministerial conference was discussed in Stockholm, Dunyo reported. Reportedly, Uzbekistan's Chargé d'Affaires in Sweden Nodir Ganiev met with Anita Grmelova, the ambassador of the Czech Republic in Stockholm.

Uzbekistan is facing major challenges caused by climate change, including desertification, water scarcity, drought, and drying up of the Aral Sea. Rising temperatures in the country and the melting of mountain glaciers, which are an important source of drinking water, faster than the global average, are increasing climate risks. Water scarcity leads to a decrease in productivity in the country and, as a result, an inability to provide enough products for the rapidly growing population.

Container train service on the new Kashgar-Osh-Andijan-Galaba-Hairatan transit route has been launched on a pilot mode. According to the press service of the Uzbekistan Airways, at present, the first train consisting of 12 cars of 40-foot containers is already on its way through the territory of Uzbekistan.

Today, on September 20, the President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev and the President of Tajikistan Imomali Rahmon had a telephone conversation.

President Shavkat Mirziyoyev at a government meeting on Monday announced the need to simplify the tourist registration system at police departments, president’s spokesman Sherzod Asadov said.

A service desk of the Compulsory Enforcement Bureau (CEB) under the General Prosecutor's Office has been launched at Tashkent International Airport, which will deal with settling problematic situations related to the imposition of an exit ban for Uzbeks, Uzbekistan Airports said.

The U.S. is negotiating with Uzbekistan and Tajikistan to trade nearly 50 military aircraft flown across the border as the Afghan government collapsed last summer for help hunting terrorists in Afghanistan, according to two people with knowledge of the talks.

Cotton harvest began throughout Uzbekistan from the first days of September. According to the Ministry of Agriculture, for the 2022 season, cotton pickers have been formed in the provinces of Uzbekistan and Karakalpakstan. There are 21,379 teams in total, with a total of 1,959,702 pickers. On average, one team consists of 90-100 people.

Today, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), in partnership with the Ministry of Justice, and the Tashkent International Arbitration Center (TIAC) kicked off the second-annual Uzbek Arbitration Week (UzAW). This event brings together national and international arbitration professionals and educators to promote the use of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) in Central Asia. Thanks to this partnership, Tashkent has become the regional hub of international arbitration.

The sister of the oligarch and former Arsenal football club shareholder Alisher Usmanov has been removed from the EU’s sanctions list, which was compiled in response to the war in Ukraine.

The award ceremony for the servicemen of Uzbekistan who participated in the International Army Games ArMI-2022 was held on September 17, the Ministry of Defense said.

Uzbekistan government delegation headed by the Foreign Minister Vladimir Norov will visit New York on September 19-24 this year.

Deputy PM/Minister of Investments and Foreign Trade Jamshid Khojaev held talks with Iran's Oil Minister Javad Avji in Samarkand on SUnday.

The heads of the member states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization signed the final Samarkand Declaration. The Declaration says that in the modern world the system of international challenges and threats is becoming more complex, “a dangerous degradation of the state of affairs in the world is observed”, existing local conflicts and crises were aggravating and new ones are emerging.

The State Tender Commission announced the sale of a 100% government stake in the design institute UzGASHKLITI, the State Assets Management Agency (SAMA) reported.

The Russian president in his remarks at the SCO summit expressed his readiness to offer a certain amount of mineral fertilizers to developing countries for free if the sanctions are lifted.

Today, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev addressed the summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. In his address, he stressed that today in the world, in the conditions of a lack of trust and mutual understanding, confrontations and conflicts, challenges to stability and security were intensifying.

Negotiations between the Presidents of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev and Russian President Vladimir Putin, who arrived in to attend the SCO Samarkand Summit, took place on September 15, the presidential press service said in a statement.

Today, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) announced an advanced entrepreneurship training program for 600 rural women. This initiative is part of a $3.4 million Women’s Economic Empowerment program that supports rural women in Uzbekistan by facilitating their engagement in the workforce as entrepreneurs and skilled employees. Training will begin on September 26, 2022.