Prime Minister of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyayev welcomed the Chinese leader at the Tashkent International Airport, UzA reported.

During his stay in Tashkent, he will meet his Uzbek counterpart Islam Karimov to exchange views on the current situation and prospects of bilateral ties as well as international and regional issues of common concern.

The two countries will ink a series of cooperation agreements in economy, trade and other areas.

This is Hu’s second trip to the Central Asian state since he became China’s head of state in 2003. In June 2004, Hu visited Uzbekistan and attended an SCO summit in Tashkent.

In recent years, Chinese-Uzbek ties have developed steadily. The two countries have supported each other on issues concerning their core interests, expanded pragmatic cooperation and jointly fought the "three evil forces" of terrorism, separatism and extremism. Both countries also have coordinated closely in efforts to deal with international and regional issues.

Despite the global financial crisis, bilateral trade between China and Uzbekistan reached US$1.9 billion in 2009, a year-on-year increase of 18.9%.

"Hu’s visit is expected to help strengthen the China-Uzbekistan friendly and cooperative partnership," Cheng Guoping, assistant foreign minister of China, told a press conference last Friday.

In Tashkent, Hu will join leaders of other SCO members for a summit on Friday. The participating leaders will mainly discuss strategies for fighting the "three evil forces," safeguarding security and stability and advancing pragmatic cooperation, Xinhua reported.

Founded in 2001, the SCO consists of China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Mongolia, India, Pakistan and Iran are observers of the organization.