/IA "Dunyo"/. Today, at the invitation of President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim ibn Hamad ibn Khalifa Al Thani, will pay a working visit to Uzbekistan, reports a "Dunyo" information agency correspondent.
TASHKENT, December 19. /IA "Dunyo"/. The Emir of Qatar will participate in the ceremony to present the Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani International Award for outstanding achievements in the fight against corruption. It should be noted that this event is being held for the first time in the post-Soviet space.
This visit will be the second visit by the head of Qatar to Uzbekistan this year and the third Uzbek-Qatar summit in the last six months at the highest level. This, foremost, testifies to the unprecedented dynamics of development of political dialogue aimed at the speedy expansion and strengthening of comprehensive cooperation for the benefit of the peoples of Uzbekistan and Qatar.
The first and historic state visit of the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani in June this year and the official visit of President Shavkat Mirziyoyev in October this year gave a powerful impetus to the development of bilateral relations established on November 27, 1997, and opened up new prospects for mutually beneficial cooperation.
As a result, 24 bilateral documents were signed aimed at further development and deepening of trade, economic, investment, cultural, humanitarian and other areas of cooperation, as well as agreements totaling billion.
The development of such an active dialogue is due to the high interest of the parties both in expanding bilateral relations and strengthening regional connectivity between Central and Southeast Asia. This was also shown by the results of the summits of the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, and the visits of the head of our state to Arab countries.
High-level relationships are also characterized by active dynamics.
On September 14-15, 2022, Qatar's Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Sultan Al-Muraihi visited Tashkent to participate in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit, at which an agreement was signed on Qatar's accession to the SCO as a dialogue partner.
The strengthening of diplomatic ties was facilitated by the opening of the Qatar Embassy in Tashkent on May 7, 2023. The opening ceremony of the diplomatic mission, as well as the third round of political consultations between the ministries of foreign affairs of the two countries, held on May 6-8, was attended by a delegation led by the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs of Qatar Sultan Al-Muraihi.
On March 4-6 of this year, the Chairman of the Senate of the Oliy Majlis, Tanzila Narbayeva, visited Doha to participate in the V UN Conference on Developing Countries. During the stay of the parliamentary delegation of Uzbekistan, a meeting and negotiations took place with the Chairman of the Advisory Council of Qatar, Hassan al-Ghanim.
The visit of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Uzbekistan Bakhtiyor Saidov to Qatar on December 10-11 successfully ended. During the visit to Doha, fruitful negotiations were held with the Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Qatar Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Center for the Rule of Law and Anti-Corruption Ali Bin Fetais Al Marri, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry Sheikh Khalifa bin Jassim bin Muhammad Al Thani, Transport Minister Jassim bin Saif bin Ahmed Al Sulaiti, and Islamic Bank Executive Director Bassel Gamal. The head of the Foreign Ministry of Uzbekistan took part in the 21st Doha Forum "Creating a Shared Future" and met with the Chief Executive Officer of the Qatari company Hassad Food, Ali Hilal Al Kuwari. At the meetings, current issues on the agenda of bilateral cooperation in the political, trade, economic, cultural and humanitarian spheres were discussed.
During the visit, the official opening ceremony of the Embassy of Uzbekistan in Qatar took place.
Uzbekistan considers Qatar as a promising economic partner in the Middle East. Today, intensifying relations has entered the current agenda of the two countries, which is due to mutual interest in realizing the huge untapped potential in this area. Today, at the invitation of President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim ibn Hamad ibn Khalifa Al Thani, will pay a working visit to Uzbekistan, reports a Dunyo news agency correspondent.
That is why Qatar sent a representative delegation to the Tashkent Investment Forum, held on April 26-27 this year, headed by Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry Sultan Al-Khatir and consisting of heads of leading Qatari companies. At this stage, the agreements reached at the end of the forum on the implementation of large joint projects in the fields of energy, transport, logistics, agriculture, labor relations, etc. are being worked out.
On May 8-9, 2023, in turn, the Minister of Investment, Industry and Trade of Uzbekistan Laziz Kudratov visited Doha, where he met with representatives of a number of ministries and leading companies in Qatar to discuss further prospects for expanding trade, economic and investment cooperation.
Today, a number of investment projects are being implemented in Uzbekistan with the participation of Qatari companies. One of them will be the launch in 2024 of a thermal power plant with a capacity of 1,600 MW in the Syrdarya region, the construction of which is carried out by the Qatari company Nebras Power together with French and Japanese partners EDF and Sojitz Corporation.
Projects planned for implementation in Uzbekistan in cooperation with the Qatari company Al-Mirkab were discussed during the visit to our country in November of this year by the former Prime Minister of Qatar, Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim Al Thani.
Uzbekistan and Qatar are interested in the formation of the shortest, most reliable and safe transport and logistics corridors connecting Central Asia with the Gulf countries. The prospects for jointly promoting the implementation of the strategic project to create the Trans-Afghan railway corridor are discussed. This will contribute to a multiple increase in the volume of mutual trade, the indicators of which today do not correspond to the potential of our countries.
In this context, it is important to note that Qatar supports Uzbekistan’s efforts for a peaceful settlement in Afghanistan. Our country, in turn, fully supports Qatar’s actions to provide emergency humanitarian assistance to the people of Afghanistan.
The cultural and humanitarian ties between our countries are based on common spiritual and cultural values and traditions, as well as the sacred religion of Islam.
Qatar highly values the contribution of outstanding thinkers and scientists who lived and worked on the territory of modern Uzbekistan to the development of Islamic civilization and historical ties between the Arabian Peninsula and Transoxiana. This contributes to the further development of intercultural dialogue and opens up good prospects for interaction in the field of tourism, including pilgrimage. Thus, from March 1, 2021, a 10-day visa-free regime was introduced for citizens of Qatar to enter Uzbekistan, and in June 2023 this period was extended to 30 days. Based on the signed intergovernmental agreement, air communication has been established between the two countries.
Cooperation is developing between the Center for Islamic Civilization of Uzbekistan and the National Library of Qatar. Uzbek and Qatari scientists are conducting joint research on manuscripts on the history of Central Asia stored in this library, exchanging digital sources of works by Uzbek scientists and thinkers, and establishing cooperation in the field of digitization and study of manuscripts.
The Days of Culture of Uzbekistan, held in the capital of Qatar in the fall of 2022, during which concerts of the State Symphony Orchestra of Uzbekistan and an exhibition of folk and applied arts were held, were warmly received by the Qatari public.
The visits of Uzbek delegations to Qatar in June and August of this year, led by the Minister of Culture of Uzbekistan Ozodbek Nazarbekov and Deputy Minister of Higher Education, Science and Innovation Shahlo Turdikulova, also confirmed the commitment of the parties to expand cooperation in the field of science, culture and education.
In the field of sports, football, popular in both countries, continues to be a promising area of cooperation. In 2017, the Uzbekistan Football Association signed a Memorandum of Cooperation with the Qatar Football Association. In June 2021, an Agreement on cooperation on the development of football, football solidarity, exchange of experience, organization of competitions, coaching education and safety of football processes was signed between Uzbekistan and Qatar.
Thus, without exaggeration, we can say that today Uzbekistan and Qatar are aimed at steadily increasing the level of established dialogue in all areas, and the upcoming visit of the Emir of Qatar to our country will strengthen the foundation of bilateral relations to continue and increase fruitful mutually beneficial cooperation.
