According to the press service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Uzbekistan, the visit of the Uzbek delegation to the United States was organized in cooperation with Open World Leadership Center at the Library of Congress.

Legislators held a series of meetings on the Capitol Hill. Negotiations have been held with the chairman of the Helsinki Commission, Senator Roger Wicker, senior member of the Foreign Relations Committee Eliot Angel, leading congressmen Francis Rooney, Jeff Fortenberry, David Price, Jim McGovern, Robert Aderholt.

The delegation of Uzbekistan exchanged views with senior staffers of the executive staff of the committees on international relations and appropriations of the US Senate, as well as experts of the Congressional Research Service.

According to the Embassy of Uzbekistan in the United States, at the meetings, reforms in Uzbekistan, realized within the Action Strategy for five priority development directions in 2017-2021, attracted interest of the US lawmakers.

Special attention was paid to discussing measures aimed at strengthening the role of parliament in the republic as an independent branch of state power. It was noted that today the Oliy Majlis has been given broad control powers over activities of government structures, the practice of organizing parliamentary hearings on topical issues of domestic and foreign policy, deputies and senators significantly intensified their work in the regions of the country for direct participation in solving the problems of voters on the ground.

The American side was informed about the priority directions of Uzbekistan’s foreign policy, progressive course of Tashkent for development of cooperation with neighboring countries, which allowed to form a completely new political atmosphere in the Central Asia region. The congressmen, senators and their staffers were acquainted with the results of the September visit of Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev to the United States, agreements reached within the framework of the Uzbek-American business forum, within which contracts worth more than US$2.6 billion were signed.

Representatives of the Congress highly appreciated the results achieved by Uzbekistan in a short period of time after last year’s presidential elections. An agreement was reached to take additional measures to deepen inter-parliamentary relations, in particular, through organization of reciprocal visits of legislators and employees of the parliaments of the two countries.

The delegation of the Oliy Majlis of Uzbekistan visited the regions of the United States to discuss ways to develop cooperation at the state level.