Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) - Minister of Transport of the Republic of Uzbekistan Ilhom Makhkamov met with the Ambassador of the United Arab Emirates to Uzbekistan, Mr. Said Matar Al Kamzi. During the meeting, the current state and prospects for the development of cooperation between our countries in the field of civil aviation were discussed.

At the beginning of the meeting, Transport Minister Ilkhom Makhkamov emphasized that in recent years, cooperation in the field of civil aviation has been dynamically developing between our countries. In particular, it was noted that as a result of the ongoing reforms to liberalize the aviation services market over the past three years, such UAE airlines as Flydubai, Air Arabia-Sharja and Air Arabia-Abu Dhabi have entered the Uzbekistan market, and the low-cost airline Wizz Air has been granted the right -Abu Dhabi to carry out regular flights to the relevant international airports of Uzbekistan.

In accordance with agreements between the two countries, today the number of regular flights between Uzbekistan and the UAE is a total of 18 flights per week and 74 per month.

In turn, the Ambassador praised the efforts made by the Ministry of Transport to increase the number of air traffic in coordination with the aviation administrations of foreign countries, as well as to organize flights to new directions. He noted that further development of cooperation in this direction is beneficial to both parties.

During the meeting, they also exchanged views on the issue of increasing the number of Flydubai flights on the Dubai-Tashkent route up to 7 times a week. The Minister and the Ambassador discussed in detail the situation around this issue.

Transport Minister Ilkhom Makhkamov noted that his primary task is to create equal competitive conditions for all participants in the country’s aviation market, to ensure compliance with the principles of an open market. Following the meeting, an agreement was reached that the above issue will be resolved at the next meeting of the aviation administrations of Uzbekistan and the UAE.

In turn, the ambassador expressed full support that relations in the field of civil aviation of the two countries should be resolved exclusively in accordance with agreements between aviation administrations, and the direct or indirect influence of representatives of any airlines on these processes is unacceptable.