SCO SUMMIT IN UFA

As reported earlier, President of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov on July 9-10 in the city of Ufa of Russian Federation took part in the regular meeting of the Council of Heads of Member States of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.

The main events of the summit held on July 10. Meeting of the Council of Heads of SCO Member States began with a meeting in a narrow format. It was attended by President of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov, President of the Republic of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev, the President of the People’s Republic of China Xi Jinping, President of Kyrgyzstan Almazbek Atambayev, President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin, President of the Republic of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon.

President of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov met with President of Russia Vladimir Putin in Ufa (Russia) on 10 July 2015.The two leaders exchanged views on the wide range of issues including further development of bilateral partnership in trade, economy, cultural and humanitarian spheres. Key problems or regional security were also under discussion.

Russian President Vladimir Putin invited Islam Karimov to make a state visit to Russia.
During the meeting, Putin said: “This year, we are marking the 10th anniversary of the agreement on an alliance, and in this respect, I note that it has been a long time since you made a state visit to Russia. We meet regularly and keep up our contacts, and you do come to Russia often, but the formal diplomatic side of things has its own significance, and I therefore want to invite you to make a state visit to Russia.”

“I note that our relations are developing very well. Russia remains solidly established as one of Uzbekistan’s biggest trade and economic partners. We use different methods for calculating our trade. According to our statistics, our bilateral trade came to around $4 billion last year, and according to your statistics, around as much $6 billion, including gas transit. In any case, these are solid figures, especially considering that Russian companies have invested a total of $6 billion in Uzbekistan’s economy,” the Russian head said.

“Regarding our cooperation on the international stage, we are working together very productively. We work together actively on integration projects in the post-Soviet space, above all the CIS, and we also have cooperation within organisations such as the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation. Uzbekistan is now about to take over the presidency in this influential international organization,” he said.

Islam Karimov said that accession of the countries with nuclear weapon to the SCO can change world order.

I.Karimov said that Uzbekistan, as a chair in the SCO for next year, should know how long the process of accession of new countries to organization will be. He noted that accession of the countries with nuclear arsenal will change political map and world order. So, he said this is difficult event and further talks needed.