On May 21, President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev participated in the Arab Islamic American Summit taken place in Riyadh (Saudi Arabia).
The event was attended by the heads of state of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and the President of the United States, the Secretaries General of the United Nations, the League of Arab States, the Council of Cooperation of the Arab States of the Persian Gulf.
The King of Saudi Arabia Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud opened the summit.
The forum was devoted to the issues of cementing the counteraction to extremism and terrorism, promotion of ideas of tolerance, strengthening of security, stability and cooperation.
In the years of independence, large-scale measures were taken in this direction in our country. The peaceful policy of Uzbekistan, realized under the leadership of the First President of our country and consistently continuing today is the foundation of this noble work. The creation of a nuclear-weapon-free zone in the region became a significant step in ensuring peace and security in Central Asia. The first President of our country Islam Karimov put forward the initiative to establish an International Center for Counteracting Terrorism at the UN at an Istanbul summit of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, taken place in 1999. The creation on September 28, 2001 of the Counter-Terrorism Committee within the framework of the UN Security Council was the practical embodiment of this idea.
In the Strategy for Actions of the development of the Republic of Uzbekistan along five priority directions in 2017-2021 developed under the initiative of the head of our state Shavkat Mirziyoyev there was paid special attention to the issues of strengthening security, interethnic accord and religious tolerance, tasks to improve the legal framework for foreign policy and foreign economic activity, international cooperation.
Currently, Uzbekistan chairs the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation. In autumn 2016, the 43rd session of this council took place in Tashkent. The President of our country Shavkat Mirziyoyev, speaking at this session, especially noted that enlightenment and education are one of the main factors of the prosperity of the people, they boost people’s desire for good deeds and good.
The Saudi Arabia was one of the first to recognize the independence of Uzbekistan. Our countries cooperate effectively in various fields.
The significant results of cooperation have been achieved in the fields of security, education and construction. On November 27, 2010, the Government of the Republic of Uzbekistan and the Government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia signed an Agreement on Cooperation in the field of combating terrorism, organized crime and crimes related to drugs and psychotropic substances, as well as other types of crimes.
The Saudi Development Fund is financing several projects being implemented in Uzbekistan. Funds were allocated to the projects on improvement of drinking water supply in rural areas, introduction of alternative energy sources in 632 remote schools in 2011, and a project for the construction of standard housing in rural areas in 2015. $ 80 million was directed to realize 5 projects for the reconstruction of irrigation systems and roads. The cooperation in this direction is consistently continuing.
The President of our country Shavkat Mirziyoyev met with the heads of several states within the framework of the summit.
President of the United States of America Donald Trump highly assessed the process of reforms in Uzbekistan during the conversation with the head of our state.
President Shavkat Mirziyoyev also met with President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, President of the Republic of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev, President of the Republic of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon, President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan Ashraf Ghani, Prime Minister of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan Nawaz Sharif, Foreign Minister of the Republic of Turkey Mevlut Cavusoglu and exchanged with the views on a number of issues concerning the further expansion of the cooperation between our countries.
President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev during his visit to Saudi Arabia met with the President of the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) Bandar Hajjar.
At the meeting it was noted the consistent advancement of relations between Uzbekistan and the IDB, large-scale cooperation of the parties in the development and implementation of projects in the social and economic direction. The Islamic Development Bank allocated more than 1.4 billion dollars for the development of health, education, irrigation and land improvement, energy, road infrastructure and communal services in our country.
Currently, as a part of the cooperation strategy between Uzbekistan and the Islamic Development Bank, the work is underway to realize 21 projects in 2017-2019 worth for 1.4 billion dollars.
During the meeting, it was stated that there is a huge potential for further development of cooperation, raising it to a new level. In order to prepare new projects, expand the scope of partnership, it was decided to develop a specific program of action for the exchange of delegations in various levels.
An exchange of views took place on the prospects for the participation of the IDB in the organization at the memorial complex of Imam Bukhari in Samarkand an international research center specializing in studying the rich spiritual heritage of our great ancestors who made an invaluable contribution to the development of mankind.
Other issues related to the further evolvement of mutually beneficial cooperation between the Republic of Uzbekistan and the Islamic Development Bank were also discussed at the meeting.
As a result of the talks, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the Government of the Republic of Uzbekistan and the Islamic Development Bank on the establishment of an international research center named after Imam Bukhari.
