Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- Chairperson of the Senate of the Oliy Majlis Tanzila Narbayeva, who is on a working visit to Qatar to attend the 5th UN High-Level Conference on the Least Developed Countries, met with the Chairperson of the Shura Council (Advisory Council) of this country, Hassan bin Abdullah al-Ghanim.

During the meeting, the current state and prospects for the development of relations between Uzbekistan and Qatar were discussed, including the strengthening of inter-parliamentary ties and cooperation between the parties within the framework of international structures.

As part of the conversation, it was emphasized that the relationship between the parliaments does not correspond to the potential of the two countries, and there are still untapped opportunities for strengthening it. From this point of view, a number of proposals were made during the meeting. Among them, the intensification of dialogue at the level of heads of parliaments, committees and friendship groups through the exchange of delegations, strengthening mutual support and cooperation within inter-parliamentary structures, coordination of actions and promotion of joint initiatives.

Particular attention was also paid to the issue of ensuring a consistent dialogue on accelerating the ratification of bilateral documents providing for cooperation in various fields, and conducting their joint monitoring.

— We believe that the development of interaction and cooperation with the Parliament of Qatar is one of the priority areas. "Friendship groups" play an important role in intensifying the inter-parliamentary dialogue. We supported the creation in March 2022 of the Qatar-Uzbekistan inter-parliamentary friendship group in the Qatar Advisory Council. We are in favor of establishing a regular dialogue between friendship groups, - said the Chairman of the Senate.

In turn, Hassan bin Abdullah al-Ghanim emphasized that Uzbekistan is a country of great scientists who historically made a great contribution to Islamic civilization, and noted the importance for Qatar of further development of mutually beneficial comprehensive cooperation with Uzbekistan. In this regard, he expressed readiness to strengthen inter-parliamentary ties at a new level by combining the joint efforts of the two countries.

During the constructive and practical dialogue, discussions focused on other areas of cooperation between Uzbekistan and Qatar, including issues of strengthening relations in trade, economic, investment, transport and communication, cultural and humanitarian spheres. Qatar’s proposals were made on the development of pilgrimage tourism between our countries. For information, it should be noted that in 2022, the trade turnover between our countries amounted to US$4.8 million.

At the end of the meeting, the Chairman of the Senate invited the Chairman of the Shura Council of the State of Qatar to visit Uzbekistan.