Uzbekistan, Tashkent, June 8 / Trend D. Azizov /
More than 40 trade-economic, investment and financial agreements and contracts worth $5.2 billion have been signed by Uzbekistan and China during Uzbek President Islam Karimov's official visit to China on June 5-7, the Uzbek national information agency said today.
The joint declaration on the establishment of a strategic partnership signed by the presidents was the most important outcome of the visit, the news agency said.
The signed documents envisage the implementation of new, large scale projects in mining, transportation and processing of hydrocarbon raw materials as well as the production of new types of chemical products having a high demand in the global market.
Some projects are planned to be implemented in high technologies, electronics and electrical engineering, information technologies and telecommunications, pharmaceuticals and the production of modern building materials.
One of the key areas of mutual cooperation which fully meets the interests of the entire region is the further development of transport and communication ties. In this regard, the parties expressed their full support for the speedy implementation of the construction project on the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan rail route which will ensure the shortest transport route from China to the countries of Central and South Asia.
Important agreements were reached in the development of the transport infrastructure and organisation of international transport.
An agreement was also reached to open up a cargo air service between the Navoi aviation hub and the Chinese Tianjin aviation hub from July 1. Flights will be made three times a week. The regular flights will link Navoi airport with the Chinese major industrial centres of Shanghai and Guangzhou soon. A passenger route from Urumqi-Tashkent will be opened.
Uzbekistan and China actively promote the implementation of the construction project and exploitation of the gas pipeline "Uzbekistan-China". It will form a stable transit corridor for long-term supplies of natural gas to China.
The parties also agreed to expand the capacity of transporting gas from Central Asia to China.
It was stressed that there are broad prospects for increasing investment cooperation in the petroleum and petrochemical, chemical, mining, transport and logistics, engineering, telecommunication areas.
The participation of leading Chinese companies in establishing a high technology industrial park in Uzbekistan was also discussed.
Both parties reiterated their interest in enhancing the volume of bilateral trade. The agreements were made to supply cotton, uranium and natural gas, nonferrous and rare metals to China in the long term prospect.