Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) – On 28 July 2022, Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Uzbekistan Vladimir Norov met with a member of the State Council, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China Wang Yi, who arrived in our country on an official visit to participate in a meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the member states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.

Wang Yi praised the successes of New Uzbekistan in the spheres of domestic and foreign policy. It was emphasized that China, as a comprehensive strategic partner, firmly and steadily supports the course of grandiose reforms and transformations carried out in Uzbekistan.

The current state and prospects for the further development of the Uzbek-Chinese comprehensive strategic partnership in political, trade, economic, cultural, humanitarian, scientific, technical and many other fields were discussed.

It was noted with satisfaction that, thanks to the determination and political will of the leaders of the two countries, in recent years, relations between Uzbekistan and China have shown unprecedented growth dynamics, enriched with new practical content. The commitment of the parties to the comprehensive and high-quality implementation of the agreements reached at the highest level, the continuation of mutual support on the world stage, and the definition of new horizons of interaction for the benefit of the peoples of the two countries was confirmed.

Specific proposals were considered to increase cooperation in the fields of trade, transport and logistics, medicine and pharmaceuticals, information and communication technologies, ecology and agriculture, tourism, science and education. In particular, the need to take effective joint measures to bring the volume of Uzbek-Chinese trade up to US$10 billion was noted. The importance of accelerating the multilateral work on the construction of the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway was stated.

A substantive exchange of views took place on the organizational, technical and substantive aspects of the planned events at the bilateral and multilateral formats.

Particular attention was paid to preparations for the upcoming meetings of the Council of Foreign Ministers in Tashkent on 28-29 July and the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in Samarkand on 15-16 September 2022. Wang Yi announced the full support of the Chinese side for the chairmanship of Uzbekistan in the SCO and the events held within its framework.

During the meeting, topical issues of international and regional politics were also discussed.

The current situation in Afghanistan is considered. The Chinese Foreign Minister highly appreciated the results of the International Conference "Afghanistan: Security and Economic Development", organized on 25-26 July 2022 in Tashkent on initiative of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev.

The full support of the Chinese side was announced for the early start of the construction of the strategic railway line "Termez - Mazar-i-Sharif - Kabul - Peshawar", which will open up new opportunities for enhancing interstate trade and strengthening interconnectedness between Central and South Asia.