On the morning of 29 November local time, Premier Li Keqiang of the State Council, who is attending the 12th Prime Ministers' Meeting of the SCO Member States in Tashkent, capital of Uzbekistan, held talks with Prime Minister Shavkat Mirziyaev of Uzbekistan.
Li Keqiang said that China and Uzbekistan enjoy unceasingly deepened political mutual trust, frequent high-level exchanges and fruitful cooperation in all fields. President Xi Jinping paid a successful visit to Uzbekistan in September this year, pushing bilateral strategic partnership to enter a new stage.
Li Keqiang expressed that China-Uzbekistan practical cooperation enjoys a sound foundation. The confidence and willingness of the two countries to cooperate have been unceasingly strengthened. Both sides should fully leverage the planning and coordinating role of the China-Uzbekistan Inter-Governmental Cooperation Committee to push for more outcomes of mutually beneficial cooperation between the two countries in all fields. Both sides should uplift the scale and level of trade and investment and provide more preferential and flexible support and facilitation for mutual investment and personnel exchanges between the two countries. To strengthen cooperation on finance, agriculture, as well as railway, road and other infrastructure connectivity. To ensure that China-Uzbekistan energy cooperation will remain long-term and stable and to explore cooperation in photovoltaic and other new energy fields. Both sides should, taking the opportunity of the two countries signing the Sister-City Agreement, strengthen local exchanges to push for development of bilateral relations.
Li Keqiang expressed that China is ready to deepen cooperation on law enforcement, security and defense with Uzbekistan, to establish as soon as possible a security mechanism for large-scale cooperation projects between the two countries and to join hands combating the “three evil forces” including “East Turkistan" so as to maintain peace, stability and tranquility in the two countries and in the region.
Mirziyaev expressed that under the direct promotion of the state leaders of the two countries, bilateral cooperation in all fields has enjoyed rapid development and yielded fruitful outcomes. China is a great friendly neighbor, sincere friend and reliable partner of Uzbekistan. Uzbekistan is ready to work with China to effectively implement the consensus and cooperation agreements reached between the state leaders of the two countries, to leverage the role of the Uzbekistan-China Inter-Governmental Cooperation Committee and other mechanisms, to expand cooperation in the fields of energy, economy and trade, investment and tourism as well as people-to-people and cultural exchanges, to strengthen security cooperation and to jointly combat the “three evil forces” in a bid to safeguard regional peace, stability and prosperity.
Following the talks, the Prime Ministers of the two countries jointly attended the signing ceremony of bilateral cooperation documents in the fields of economy, trade, energy and culture.