On July 30, President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev attended an official welcoming ceremony as part of his state visit to Kyrgyzstan in the city of Cholpon-Ata. The event took place at the Rukh Ordo cultural center, where the national flags of both countries were raised, a guard of honor stood at attention, and 40 ethnic warriors participated.
The leaders walked along the guard of honor, greeting the servicemen. Mirziyoyev addressed them with the words “Salam asker!”. Then the introduction of members of the official delegations began.
During the introduction of Deputy Chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers of Kyrgyzstan Erlist Akunbekov, Mirziyoyev recalled his work in agriculture and joked: “In Soviet times, whoever they wanted to fire, they put in charge of agriculture.” Japarov replied, “We are not going to fire him yet.”
In a conversation with Kyrgyz Foreign Minister Jeenbek Kulubayev, Mirziyoyev acknowledged his contribution to preparing the agreements together with his Uzbek counterpart Bakhtiyor Saidov: “You brought it to perfection. It was difficult, but you managed.”
When introduced to Minister of Economy and Commerce Bakyt Sydykov, Mirziyoyev called him the “biggest man” and joked: “In their mentality, saying ‘no’ is an everyday occurrence.” Japarov added, “He and the Ministry of Finance,” to which Mirziyoyev replied, “Both are the same.”
At a meeting with Energy Minister Altynbek Rysbekov, Mirziyoyev called for accelerating the implementation of the Kambarata HPP-1 project. Rysbekov stated that he is familiar with the Uzbek minister and expressed confidence in speeding up the project.
Mirziyoyev asked Chairman of the State Border Service Abdikarim Alimbayev whether border issues had been resolved. He answered in the affirmative.
Earlier, Mirziyoyev called the under-construction China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway a “construction of the century that will completely change geopolitics.” Japarov announced that the new agreements would fully resolve border issues and increase the number of border crossing points from 15 to 30.
Following the negotiations, the presidents signed the Treaty on Allied Relations between Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan. The sides also discussed expanding cooperation in energy, trade, and logistics.
Source: www.gazeta.uz