As reported earlier, President of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov has arrived in Moscow on 14 April within official visit to the Russian Federation on the invitation of President Vladimir Putin.

“In this respect I want to express my particular respect for Russia’s place and role in further developing the CIS. It is our firm belief that the CIS has far from exhausted its resources and possibilities. Its future, role and significance will depend above all upon Russia’s involvement and interest,” Uzbek President Islam Karimov said.

Islam Karimov said: “Developing our economic, innovation and trade cooperation was also a major issue on our agenda. It is good to see that despite the continued global financial and economic crisis, our bilateral trade reached a figure of US$7.6 billion in 2012 and increased by 12.6%. It grew by 20% over the first quarter of 2013. I take this opportunity to thank you personally, Mr Putin, for Russia’s support for Uzbekistan’s accession to the CIS Free Trade Zone Agreement”.

“We see this visit as the needed and logical continuation of our bilateral political dialogue and our summit meetings that aim to strengthen and deepen our ties and give practical content to our basic agreements on strategic partnership and alliance,” President Islam Karimov said.