Russia and Uzbekistan are ready to initiate a reboot – News –
December 23, 2009 – 3:00 am
Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov arrived on Dec. 22, 2009 in Uzbekistan on an official visit. The itinerary included a meeting with Lavrov Uzbek President Islam Karimov, talks with Foreign Minister Vladimir Norov, which discussed the most topical issues of Russia-Uzbek cooperation and collaboration in the international arena. During the visit, discussed co-operation during the presidency of Uzbekistan in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and Russia’s chairmanship in the CIS in 2010, the situation in Afghanistan, issues related to regional security and stability, the two countries’ interaction within the UN, OSCE, CIS, CSTO, reports Fergana. En.
In particular, much attention was paid to the preparation of the next SCO summit to be held in Tashkent in 2010. Lavrov reiterated that Russia and Uzbekistan are cooperating in the SCO, Russia’s side handed over the presidency powers of the Uzbek side of the previous summit in Yekaterinburg, and are now actively working on the preparation of the summit next year in Tashkent, “- reports the words of the Minister of Sight. Roux. In particular, Lavrov said that preparing a document designed to normalize the interaction between the UN and the SCO.
The sides discussed issues of trade and economic cooperation. Lavrov acknowledged that the foundation of economic cooperation between Russia and Uzbekistan is a dynamically developing fuel and energy complex. During the first ten months of 2009 bilateral trade amounted to over two billion dollars.
But the two countries’ cooperation is not limited to TEKom. In Uzbekistan there are about eight Russo-Uzbek joint ventures, where the volume of Russian investment exceeds one billion dollars. In Russia, has about three hundred and fifty companies with the participation of the Uzbek capital.
In addition, Lavrov said that it was the citizens of Uzbekistan are more likely to come to Russia to work, reports Interfax. Therefore, the interaction of migration is also an important component of bilateral relations between Russia and Uzbekistan.
According to the MFA Spokesman Andrei Nesterenko, Russia, Uzbekistan ranks fourth in the trade turnover between Russia and the CIS after Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan. ” Countries cooperate in the fields of transport, fuel and energy complex, the implementation of investment projects, as well as in space exploration.
high-level dialogue will continue at the Summit of Heads of State, to be held in Moscow in early 2010. The interest in this dialogue and expressed Karimov, who assured Lavrov that Uzbekistan values the relations with Russia.
Recently, relations between Moscow and Tashkent left much to be desired. President Karimov was not going to sign an agreement on collective rapid reaction force (RRF) in the framework of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) and generally reduced cooperation with the Tashkent Collective Security Treaty Organization to a minimum. In addition, Tashkent has initiated talks with Washington about a possible return to Uzbekistan, the U.S. military base.
