Uzbekistan, China to strengthen cooperation

TASHKENT - Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev and Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi agreed to enhance cooperation between the two countries during their meeting here on Thursday.

Mirziyoyev asked Wang to convey his sincere regards to Chinese President Xi Jinping and extended his congratulations on the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China (CPC), adding that Uzbekistan is ready to know about and learn from China's experience in development, especially in poverty reduction.

At present, Uzbekistan-China relations have made great progress in the context of the pandemic, and bilateral trade and investment have grown rapidly, he said.

The Uzbek president thanked China for providing timely support to Uzbekistan in fighting the pandemic.

Mirziyoyev said his country is willing to take the opportunity of celebrating the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries to formulate a new five-year cooperation plan with China to inject new impetus into bilateral cooperation.

Noting that Xinjiang and Hong Kong-related issues are purely China's internal affairs, Mirziyoyev said Uzbekistan has always adhered to the one-China principle and will, as always, firmly support China in safeguarding national sovereignty and security and be a reliable partner of China.

Virus source-tracing is a scientific problem that should be studied by scientists, Mirziyoyev said, adding that Uzbekistan opposes politicizing source-tracing.

Uzbekistan supports hosting the Beijing Winter Olympics and is willing to work with China to promote the greater development of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.

For his part, Wang said the CPC has just celebrated its centenary, and Uzbekistan is about to celebrate its 30th anniversary of independence. Next year, the two sides will celebrate the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations, and the development of bilateral relations will face a new historical starting point.

The two sides should, as always, firmly support each other's chosen development path and their principled positions on issues involving each other's core interests, and firmly support each other's efforts to develop the economy and improve people's livelihood, Wang added.

Wang said he believes Uzbekistan can maintain a high degree of mutual trust between China and Uzbekistan.

China will continue to support Uzbekistan in fighting the pandemic, provide the vaccines it needs, and is willing to carry out joint vaccine production cooperation with the Uzbek side, Wang said.

China attaches great importance to the interconnection with Uzbekistan and is willing to accelerate the joint construction of the Belt and Road Initiative with the Uzbek side to achieve more sustainable development, the Chinese foreign minister said.

China supports Uzbekistan in hosting the SCO summit in the city of Samarkand next year, he said.

The two sides also had an in-depth exchange of views on the Afghan issue.

On the same day, Wang also exchanged views with Uzbek Foreign Minister Abdulaziz Kamilov on bilateral relations.