BAKU, Azerbaijan, August 21. The visit of President Shavkat Mirziyoyev to Baku will serve as a logical continuation of the intense dialogue between Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan, Bahrom Ashrafkhanov, Ambassador of Uzbekistan to Azerbaijan, said in an exclusive interview with Trend.
"On August 22-23, at the invitation of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev will arrive in Azerbaijan for a state visit. The President's visit will be the first state visit after his election as the head of the republic and the first state visit to a foreign country following the presidential elections held on July 9, 2023. As part of the visit, the leaders of Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan will hold bilateral meetings, including in an expanded format with the participation of government delegations from both countries," he said.
The ambassador noted that the visit will also involve the leaders of both countries participating in the ceremonial opening of a general education school with 960 student places in the city of Fuzuli.
"The construction of the school was initiated by President Shavkat Mirziyoyev as a gift to the Azerbaijani people. We are confident that the school will become a symbol of friendship and brotherhood between our nations," added Ashrafkhanov.
He also emphasized that the upcoming visit will be a logical continuation of the intense high-level dialogue.
"In this context, it is worth noting that on June 21-22, 2022, President Ilham Aliyev made a state visit to Uzbekistan. This visit was a significant event in the history of bilateral relations, as a Declaration on Deepening Strategic Partnership and Enhancing Comprehensive Cooperation between the two states was adopted during the visit. The leaders of Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan also met in September 2022 in the city of Samarkand during the meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), in which President Ilham Aliyev participated as an honorary guest of the presiding country. On November 10-11 of the same year, President Ilham Aliyev, along with First Vice President Mehriban Aliyeva, visited the city of Samarkand to participate in the meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Turkic Council. In March of the current year, the presidents of the two countries met in Baku as President Shavkat Mirziyoyev participated in the Non-Aligned Movement Summit," the ambassador noted.
Furthermore, according to him, the signing of a new package of documents between Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan is expected.
"The signing of a package of bilateral documents aimed at further deepening bilateral cooperation between our countries and taking it to a qualitatively new level of development is planned," said Ashrafkhanov.
Meanwhile, the trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan in 2022 amounted to $181.2 million (an increase of 52.4 percent compared to 2021). The economies of the two countries have sufficient potential to increase mutual trade indicators to $1 billion in the coming years.
As of July 1, 2023, there are 204 enterprises with Azerbaijani capital in Uzbekistan (compared to 71 in 2017), of which 67 are joint ventures and 137 are foreign enterprises. Some 22 joint ventures have been established since the beginning of this year.