President of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov at Kuksaroy June 11 met with President of Mongolia Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj who is attending the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Tashkent as the head of an observer nation.

“Your participation in the SCO summit meeting will enrich its content”, Islam Karimov assured his colleague. “This is your first visit to Uzbekistan as President of Mongolia, and I think it will prove to be a good opportunity to get acquainted with the culture and ancient history of our nation, its economic potential, and also to discuss the prospects of Uzbek-Mongolian relations”.

Interaction between our countries is built on the principles of mutual understanding and interest in developing relations in various sectors of economy. The enormous potential of Uzbek-Mongolian cooperation has barely been used to a full extent. The two nations have similar approaches to issues related to countering contemporary threats to regional and international security. Mongolia highly appreciates Uzbekistan's efforts to promote stability in Central Asia and address the situation in Afghanistan.

Uzbekistan and Mongolia have sought to build up bilateral political relations. In order to boost cooperation, a round of consultations between foreign ministries of the two countries was held on September 23, 2009, in Ulan Bator, capital of Mongolia.

During the meeting at Kuksaroy, President of Mongolia thanked cordially the head of our state for the warm welcome and applauded the level of organization of SCO summit. Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj expressed confidence that new opportunities for expanding trade and economic relations with Uzbekistan will provide a powerful impetus to consolidating bilateral cooperation.