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Russian, Uzbek FMs to discuss preparations for Uzbek president’s visit to Russia

TASHKENT, July 15. /TASS/. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and his Uzbek counterpart Abdulaziz Kamilov will discuss during the talks on Wednesday preparations for the state visit of Uzbekistan’s President Islam Karimov to Russia, they said ahead of the meeting.

"Today we will be able to focus on preparations for the state visit of Uzbekistan’s president," Russia’s top diplomat said. "We will take into consideration all requests of the Uzbek side to make the visit highly topical and will finalize the dates of the visit." The Uzbek president received a formal invitation from the Russian leader at the summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) held recently in Ufa.

"We note the intensity of bilateral contacts as well as stable and trust-based dialogue between our presidents," Lavrov noted. "The theme and content of the dialogue set a special partnership character." Referring to the bilateral Russian-Uzbek relations, the Russian foreign minister noted that "they were developing in all directions." "We intend to discuss today and exchange views on the situation in Central Asia," he said.

For his part, Kamilov said that today’s meeting was "timely and much-needed with a view to discussing bilateral issues and a number of international problems." "We will coordinate our actions today on the preparation of the state visit of Uzbekistan’s president to Russia," he said. "The meeting of the presidents of Russia and Uzbekistan in Ufa became a significant event in the development of our bilateral relations." The Uzbek foreign minister also noted that "the deal on Iran reached in Vienna on July 14 would strengthen the non-proliferation regime, regional and international security.".