Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- On 21 November 2019, a briefing was held at the Embassy of Uzbekistan in Washington with the participation of about 160 leading researchers and scientists who are members of the International Club of Researchers, the Foreign Ministry said.

Founded in 1905 in New York City, the club is an American international multidisciplinary professional society whose goal is to promote scientific and field research.

The Ambassador of Uzbekistan to the USA Javlon Vakhabov acquainted the guests with the heritage of such ancient cities of our country as Samarkand, Bukhara and Khiva, which are the same age as Rome and Athens. Their central role in establishing trade and economic ties between East and West as a key crossroads on the Great Silk Road is emphasized.

The club representatives learned about the life and work of the great ancestors of the Uzbek people, prominent thinkers: Al-Biruni, who, based on mathematical and astronomical calculations, discovered America theoretically 5 centuries before Columbus; Al-Khwarizmi created the algorithm that forms the basis of our smartphones; Avicenna is one of the founders of modern medicine.

The guests were especially struck that our country is one of the safest countries in the world for foreign tourists with an honorable fifth place in the Global Peace Index. In addition, according to the Lonely Planet version, Uzbekistan is the second place in Asia that you must visit. The Times Journeys program of The New York Times selected Uzbekistan as one of 52 places for its annual visits, and in 2019 doubled its trips to Uzbekistan up to 4 times a year.

All this allowed to significantly increase interest in our country and prompted many participants to plan their first tourist trip to Uzbekistan in 2020.

As the chairman of the American Council on Competitiveness, Deborah Vince-Smith, noted, “Uzbekistan today is becoming an important state in establishing trade, economic and political-diplomatic relations between the West and the East.”