Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ The regular consultative meeting between the Ministries of Foreign affairs of Mongolia and Uzbekistan was held in Tashkent on April 10. The meeting was chaired by Deputy Foreign Ministers of the two countries B.Battsetseg and Dilshod Khamidovich Akhatov. The parties shared views on the development of bilateral relations in political, economic, trade, investment, culture, humanitarian, agricultural and tourism sectors, and close cooperation at the international and regional levels.

Deputy Minister B.Battsetseg emphasized the friendly relations between Mongolia and Uzbekistan and that the countries share common historical and cultural roots. As the landlocked and developing countries in Central Asia, Mongolia and Uzbekistan have broad opportunities for cooperation development in various fields through sharing relevant development experiences, she noted. Ms B.Battsetseg then highlighted the importance of regular consultative meetings of Foreign Ministries in strengthening political relations and expressed willingness to conduct mutual visits and strengthen inter-parliamentary ties to intensify bilateral political relations. It was also proposed to establish direct relationship between the Chambers of Commerce and Industry of the two countries and strengthen business ties in order to define cooperation opportunities in trade and investment sectors.

Deputy Minister Akhatov noted that the consultative meeting of Foreign Ministries is being held after nine years and accepted the proposal to increase frequency of the meetings, conducting it every two years. In addition to facilitating the establishment of relevant documents within the framework of strengthening the legal framework for bilateral relations, it was proposed to develop plan and road map for the works to be implemented in the coming years.

Noting the timeliness and significance of the meeting, Mr. Akhatov said “Our country has been undergoing many reforms over the past two years in the social and economic sectors. We are delighted to receive Mongolian delegation and hold talks on the issues of cooperation.”

The sides introduced their policies regarding trade, investment, tourism, agriculture and export support. As a result of special attention paid to the development of tourism, the number of tourists in Uzbekistan doubled reaching 5.3 million. Deputy Minister Akhatov noted that bilateral trade turnover is low but growing and expressed the interest to import animal products from Mongolia and export machinery, buses, agriculture equipment, fruits and berries.

Deputy Minister B.Battsetseg also expressed interest to export agriculture products to the countries of Central Asian region, specifically, meat and meat products, and proposed to create connection between the relevant professional organizations. The sides agreed to continue discussion on the development of transportation corridors. Uzbekistan announced the decision to include Mongolia in the list of visa-free countries and requested to establish the Air relations agreement.

The Mongolian side proposed to organize joint exhibition aimed at presenting the historical and cultural heritage kept in the museums and archives of Uzbekistan to the public. It was also proposed to make a copy of the ‘Compendium of Chronicles’ by Rashid-al-Din to include it to the book titled ‘Mongolian heritage around the world’. The Uzbekistan side pledged to study the proposals.