At the invitation of Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, Mr Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the President of Turkey landed on Tuesday in the Uzbek capital, Tashkent. The president was received by Uzbek Prime Minister Abdulla Nigmatovich Aripov, Uzbek Foreign Minister Abdulaziz Kamilov, Tashkent Mayor Jahongir Ortiqhojaev and Turkey’s Ambassador to Tashkent Ahmet Basar Sen at the Tashkent International Airport. Erdogan arrived for a two-day visit aiming to further develop the bilateral ties between Turkey and Uzbekistan.
“As a result of our meetings, we raised the relations between our countries to the level of comprehensive strategic partnership,” Erdoğan said at a news conference alongside Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev on 29th March.
Since the 1990s Turkey and Uzbekistan have developed a strong relationship with more than 100 bilateral agreements and protocols concluded between the two countries. Turkey has made early commitments for expansion of trade and cooperation, funding Uzbek development schemes with a USD 700 million (worth USD 1.3 billion in 2020) credit and pledging yearly 2,000 scholarships for Uzbek students to study in Turkey.
After the conversation and the commissioning of a new thermal power plant, the two presidents declared the advancement of relations to a “comprehensive strategic partnership.” In the year 2019, the trade volume between the two countries was 2.3 billion USD. In the present scenario, there are around 1,300 companies with Turkish capital in Uzbekistan.
The president reminisced that Turkey was the first country to recognize Uzbekistan’s independence which soon led to the opening of an embassy in Tashkent. He also emphasised the strong relations between the two countries based on common history, culture, language and faith.
The two countries signed 10 agreements, including a Preferential Trade Agreement, during Erdogan’s visit to Uzbekistan. Pointing out that bilateral cooperation in the field of tourism is getting stronger with Uzbekistan, President Erdogan noted that Turkey hosted more than 270,000 Uzbek people last year, and the new target is to increase this figure to 500,000. It is highly significant to note that Turkey is among Uzbekistan’s top five trade partners and its trade volume is expected to reach $5 billion this year.