Wednesday, January 25, 2017
Kabul (BNA) President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, Mohammad Ashraf Ghani met Uzbekistan’s foreign minister Abdul Aziz Kamilov here yesterday at presidential palace, a statement said.
According to presidential press office, leading a high ranking officials, the Uzbek Foreign Minister submitted President Shavkat Mirziyoyev’s formal invitation to President Ghani, saying a series of issues have been discussed during the recent visit of Afghan officials to Uzbekistan, adding President Mirziyoyev was keen to bolster the bilateral ties between the two countries in different fields of economic, security, railway, infrastructures, education and commerce.
Thanking and accepting the invitation of Uzbek president, President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani hoped to see further development in different fields between the two countries, prior to his visit to Uzbekistan.
President Ghani went on as saying Uzbekistan has good experience of road constructions, saying such experiences could be utilized in construction of Kabul ring road and Qaisar-Laman project.
Hinting to production of high quality medicines, the president said Afghanistan looking forward to reduce dependency to importation of medicines from one port and to strengthen such cooperation with Uzbekistan. He also said that Afghanistan wants to ease transmission of energy from Central Asia to South Asian Countries.
Calling terrorism the shared threat of both countries, the president said security in Uzbekistan is indeed security in Afghanistan, adding terrorism doesn’t know borders, therefore it requires to be jointly fought.
In a separate meeting held in Arg, the delegations of both countries briefed the President on activities of the last two days on building of infrastructures, energy, purchasing of wheat and transit development.
The president said that Afghanistan and Uzbekistan enjoying shared history and culture, which according to him, the two countries historical monuments could prove such claims. The president assigned NDS’s first deputy Faizullah Zaki to ease bilateral cooperation in fields of culture and handicrafts between the two countries.
The Afghan and Uzbek ministers of foreign affairs also signed
different MoUs on enhancing cooperation between the two countries. Meanwhile the delegations attended a banquet hosted by President Ghani
Addressing the banquet, President Ghani called President Shavkat Mirziyoyev’s selection as competent and appropriate and congratulated the Uzbek nation on his victory. The president added the ground for cooperation between Afghanistan and Uzbekistan was paved since Uzbek independence, saying both sides are committed to open a new chapter of bilateral cooperation. He also said that the two countries enjoying irrefrangible ties and have mutual interest for the future.
“Uzbekistan has been linked with railway network and the city of Mazar-e-Sharif has also been connected to such network.
This ways would ease our access to Kazakhstan, Russia and Europe.
This would also create the route to import and export for Afghanistan,” the president note.
Hinting to personality of Amir Ali Sher Nawayee, the president said: “We have common proud and the two countries have common history which require us to jointly celebrate the cultural elites,” the president said, adding further works would be done to improve Uzbeki language the same as other local languages in Afghanistan.
Thanking President Ghani for warm welcome and hospitality, the Uzbek Foreign Minister said the MoUs would ease cooperation between the two countries, adding Uzbekistan is committed to help Afghanistan in different fields, including security and economy.
