Uzbekistan, US discuss perspective directions of cooperation

Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- On 31 July 2019, Uzbekistan’s Ambassador to the United States, Javlon wahabov, visited Pennsylvania and held talks with representatives of official, business and non-governmental circles.

During the meeting with the mayor of Philadelphia Jim Kenny discussed the prospects for the development of Uzbek-American relations, the measures taken by the Government of Uzbekistan to enhance cooperation with the United States both at the Federal and regional levels.

Following the talks, the parties agreed to jointly study the issue of establishing a sister city relationship between the city of Samarkand and the city of Philadelphia.

During the visit, the Uzbek envoy also met with the Chairman and chief Executive officer of the global Philadelphia Association" (GPA) by Robert McNeill and Zabit Tiliksingh. GPA is one of the largest NGOs in Philadelphia. GPA members are more than 200 structures (companies, universities, clubs, cultural institutions, museums, clinics).

In the conversation, the issue of establishing cooperation with members of the Association was discussed. Mutual interest in cooperation in the areas of trade and investment, health, education, as well as the organization of cultural events in Philadelphia was noted.

Robert MacNeil and Zabit Tiliksingh called for increasing cooperation in the field of higher education. According to them, a number of GPA members, in particular the University of Pennsylvania, Temple University and Villanova University are interested in cooperation with foreign universities. One of the most common areas of partnership are a programme of professional development for teachers. In this regard, the leadership of the GPA offered its assistance to the Embassy in establishing contacts with these universities to discuss the participation of educational institutions of the Republic in these programs.

The final event in the program of the visit of the Uzbek delegation was the opening ceremony of the Summer summit of the business community and chambers of Commerce of Philadelphia, which was attended by more than 200 people from among the official, academic, non-governmental and business circles. The event was organized by the leading chambers of Commerce of Philadelphia, specializing in the development of business contacts of the city with the business community of Britain, France, Germany, Japan, Israel and other countries. 

The Ambassador of Uzbekistan in his speech informed the summit participants about the transformations in Uzbekistan, the implementation of the five-year development Strategy, the agreements reached during the official visit of President Shavkat Mirziyoyev to the United States in May 2018 and negotiations with President Donald Trump.

The Uzbek delegation also held a series of meetings with representatives of the Fox business school of the Temple University, Association of the Consular Corps of Philadelphia, the International trade centre of the state of Delaware, Atlantic Eurasian business Council, the Medical Institute at the University of Pennsylvania, administration of the seaport city of Philadelphia.

In general, the visit of the Uzbek delegation made it possible to establish close working relations with local official, business and non-governmental circles, to widely disseminate information about the large-scale reforms in Uzbekistan among representatives of the state of Pennsylvania, to reach a number of important agreements in the field of cultural and humanitarian cooperation.