Tashkent, Uzbekistan, Nov. 29
By Demir Azizov - Trend:
Uzbek President Islam Karimov received Premier of the State Council of the People's Republic of China Li Keqiang, who paid an official visit to Tashkent on Thursday, the Uzbek national news agency (UzA) reported on Thursday.
While welcoming the guest, President Karimov said that Uzbekistan considers his first visit as Premier of the State Council of China as a logical continuation of President Xi Jinping's visit in September. Its results have contributed to the strengthening and development of the inter-state cooperation, given a new impetus to the consistent strengthening of the strategic partnership between two countries and peoples.
China is a reliable and responsible partner for Uzbekistan.
It was stressed at the meeting that the countries are cooperating in almost all spheres, namely, political, trade-economic, investment, cultural-humanitarian and other spheres.
The recent forum of business circles of the two countries held in Tashkent confirmed the sides' interest in further expansion of the mutually beneficial relations, the creation of new joint ventures, especially in the field of high technologies.
As of the first nine months of this year, bilateral trade turnover exceeded $ 3.5 billion. Around 488 joint ventures with Chinese capital are successfully operating in Uzbekistan. Many projects with Chinese investments worth $6.75 billion have been implemented since 2002.
Uzbek natural gas has been regularly supplied to China since 2012. Currently, the third branch is being constructed and the fourth branch of the Uzbekistan - China gas pipeline is being designed. Their commissioning will expand the export and transit of natural gas from Central Asia to China.
During the meeting, the sides exchanged views on other issues of the Uzbek -Chinese agenda.
Li Keqiang expressed his deep gratitude to the Uzbek president for the warm reception and the opportunity to thoroughly discuss issues of bilateral relations, regional and international issues of mutual interest, UzA reported.