President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov met at Kuksaroy complex June 11 with President of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan Asif Ali Zardari, attending the summit of Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in Tashkent as head of an observer state.

Today, the prolific Uzbek-Pakistani cooperation is developing in the spirit of contemporary international environment. Bilateral documents in various areas signed during summits, have been yielding tangible outcomes. In this context, trade and economic interactions between the two countries have been rather extensive, and the volume of mutual trade increased from 23 million US dollars in 2008 to 34 million in 2009.

In recent years, cultural and humanitarian relations have enhanced between the two nations. In this sense, quite telling are the scientific and practical conferences and other cultural events held in Pakistan in 2008 dedicated to the lives and creativities of Alisher Navoi, Abu Ali ibn Sino, Zahiriddin Bobur and Muhammad Iqbol.

During the meeting at Kuksaroy, the sides noted that active interaction in settling the conflict in Afghanistan remains predominantly significant as both Uzbekistan and Pakistan have a direct interest in building peace and socio-economic reconstruction in Afghanistan. Tashkent and Islamabad have similar approaches to issues related to counteracting contemporary threats to regional and international security.

Asif Ali Zardari expressed sincere gratitude to the leader of our nation for the invitation to attend the SCO summit. According to him, Pakistan considers Uzbekistan an important partner in promoting economic cooperation with Central Asian states and coordinated action in security matters.