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By Trend

Roots of friendship and brotherhood between Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan, which have common history and culture, national traditions go deep into history, Trend reports.

The relations between the two countries have further strengthened in recent years. After Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan gained independence, the historic relations of friendship and brotherhood between the two countries have been further developed reaching their current level. In the first years of independence, the great leader of the Azerbaijani people Heydar Aliyev and the former president of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov made an exceptional contribution to the development of relations between the two fraternal countries, the formation of interstate relations.

Today, it can be said with full confidence that Azerbaijani-Uzbek relations have entered a new stage of development, they are successfully continuing and developing by the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev. Azerbaijani-Uzbek relations today are developing at an even faster pace thanks to a far-sighted policy, mutual visits and regular contact between the leaders of the two countries.

Over the past seven months, President Ilham Aliyev visited Uzbekistan twice - on June 21-22, he arrived with a state visit in Uzbekistan, and on September 15-16, the Head of state took part in the summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization member countries in Samarkand as an honored guest. Thus, the current visit to Uzbekistan is the third one in 2022.

Azerbaijan, as a leading state in the region, comes up with important initiatives for the development of relations between Turkic states, and makes a great contribution to the development of Turkic society

Azerbaijani-Uzbek relations are developing day by day within the framework of the Permanent Council of Ministers of Culture of the International Organization of Turkic Culture (TURKSOY), The Secretariat of the Parliamentary Assembly of Turkic Speaking Countries (TurkPA), Turkic Academy, Turkic Culture and Heritage Foundation, Turkic Business Council and other structures.

Diplomatic relations between the two countries were established on October 2, 1995. The Embassy of Azerbaijan in Uzbekistan started operations in August 1996, and the Embassy of Uzbekistan in Azerbaijan - in July 1998. As of today, 154 documents were signed between the two countries

Currently, there is a comprehensive and strategic partnership between Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan. Great leader Heydar Aliyev has always treated the Uzbek people with great love. The friendly relations that developed in 1970 between Heydar Aliyev, who headed Azerbaijan at that time, and the head of Uzbekistan Sharaf Rashidov, became the basis for today's development of relations between the two countries.

The "Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation between the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Republic of Uzbekistan" signed by the National Leader Heydar Aliyev and the first President of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov in Baku in 1996, as well as the visit of the National Leader to Uzbekistan in June 1997, determined the contours of the future relations based on mutual understanding, trust and respect.

The history of both countries has similar tragedies. At the beginning of the last century, both Azerbaijanis and Uzbeks became victims of Armenian atrocities. The Armenian Revolutionary Federation also known as Dashnaktsutyun with the support of the Bolsheviks, committed a genocide of Uzbeks in the Kokand region in February 1918, as a result of which 35,000 people were killed. In just three days, about 10,000 civilians were brutally killed in Kokand city.

Traditional friendly and brotherly relations have historically developed between the people of Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan and, currently, relations between the two countries are developing along the ascending line, including the economic sector. A meeting of the Joint Intergovernmental Commission on Cooperation between Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan was held on August 1, 2022. During the meeting, agreements were reached on strengthening cooperation in the trade, economic, agricultural, energy, healthcare, transport and logistics, environmental sectors, in the provision of public services, cultural, humanitarian, social and tourism areas.

In addition, the first trilateral meeting of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Trade, Economy and Transport of Azerbaijan, Türkiye and Uzbekistan was held in Tashkent in August 2022. And the first trilateral meeting of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Transport of Azerbaijan, Türkiye and Kazakhstan was held in Baku in June.

The volume of trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan reached $131.06 million from January through September 2022. This indicator reached $111.9 million in 2021. Also this year there was an increase in the volume of cargo transportation. Thus, cargo transportation amounted to 578,000 tons from January through September 2022. This is two to three times more than in the previous year (for comparison 172,100 tons in 2021 and 272,100 tons in 2020).

At the same time, Uzbekistan always supported the fair position of Azerbaijan on the issue related to the former Karabakh conflict. It's noteworthy that Uzbekistan has already joined the construction work on the liberated territories. Following the direct initiative of President Mirziyoyev, the government of Azerbaijan was presented with a project to build a large school in the Fuzuli district at the expense of the Uzbek state.

At the informal summit of the Organization of Turkic States (at that time called the Cooperation Council of Turkic Speaking States), held via videoconference on March 31, President Mirziyoyev congratulated Azerbaijan on the return of Nagorno-Karabakh and the restoration of historical justice. Uzbekistan back in March 2008 became the only Central Asian country that supported the resolution entitled "The situation in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan" during the voting at the UN General Assembly.

President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev announced his intentions to build a large school in Azerbaijan's Fuzuli at the expense of funds from the state budget of Uzbekistan at the VIII Summit of the Organization of Turkic States in Istanbul in November 2021.

There are historically close ties between Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan. The people of these countries drew inspiration from each other's culture, mutually enriching them. The Days of Azerbaijani Culture and Literature were held in Tashkent, Bukhara, Navoi and Samarkand from October 16 through October 22, 2022.

Considering all this, it can be said that Azerbaijani-Uzbek relations, close to each other in ethnic, religious and cultural values, will continue to develop incrementally, this cooperation will make a significant contribution to the development of both our countries and peoples and the entire Turkic world.

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