On May 21 this year at the Oksaroy Residence in Tashkent the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov received the Minister for Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China Yang Jiechi, according to the report by the Uzbekistan National News Agency May 22.

“We highly appreciate the particular attention and significance paid and attached by the leadership of the People’s Republic of China to the work of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization,” President Islam Karimov is reported to have said as he had welcomed the high-ranking Chinese diplomat in Tashkent, “the international authority of your country and such a broad participation in the forthcoming events in Tashkent tangibly promote strengthening of the role and influence of this Organization in the modern architecture of world politics.”

“In China we treat you with high respect as a great politician of modernity,” Foreign Minister Jiechi said in response to President, “and it is under your leadership that the people of Uzbekistan have achieved enormous successes in independent nation building. Along with Chairman Hu Jintao you took the Uzbek-Chinese relations up to a qualitatively new level.”

At the moment, the bilateral relations between the two countries are developing in the spirit of traditional friendship and partnership, and cover a broad spectrum of issues in the investment, trade-economic, energy and transport and communications spheres. In many directions of cooperation the sides observe coincidence of positions of both countries on bilateral and multilateral levels.

Uzbekistan and China jointly counteract any manifestations of terrorism, extremism, separatism, drug trafficking, illicit arms trade and other challenges of regional and international security. These issues are also defined as the key ones in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization’s Charter.

The trade and economic relations between the Republic of Uzbekistan and People’s Republic of China are known for their special level of development in the framework of most favoring regime in force yet since 1994 on the parity basis. China has been solidly securing the position of one of the leading trade partners of Uzbekistan, according to the report.

At the May 21 Oksaroy talks the Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi sincerely thanked the President for a warm welcome and paid a special attention to ever solidified role of the SCO in the international arena, particularly, thanks to the efforts of the Uzbek Leadership during its chairmanship in the Organization.

During the negotiations the sides have also exchanged views related to prospects of further expanding the bilateral cooperation, as well as on the issues of forthcoming State visit of the Chairman of PRC Hu Jintao to the Republic of Uzbekistan.

Shanghai Cooperation Organization’s top-level summit with participation of heads of its member-states is due in Tashkent on June 10-11 this year.

The Organization’s member-states include China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. India, Iran, Mongolia and Pakistan hold the observer status.

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