Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- On 8 September, the First Uzbek-Israeli Academic Forum was held at the Silk Road International University of Tourism and Cultural Heritage.

This forum was attended by the Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Tourism and Cultural Heritage of the Republic of Uzbekistan, Rector of the International University of Tourism and Cultural Heritage "Silk Road" - Aziz Abdukhakimov, Member of the Senate of the Republic of Uzbekistan, Rector of Samarkand State University Prof. Rustam Kholmuradov, Ambassador of Uzbekistan in Israel, Feruza Mahmudova, Israeli Ambassador to Uzbekistan and Tajikistan Ms. Ben-Hillel Zehavit, Rector of the Holon Technological University Prof. Eduard Yakubov, and professors of the Holon University.

This forum was officially opened by Aziz Abdukhakimov, who emphasized the importance of future cooperation with Israeli universities, including the Holon Technological University. The rector paid special attention to increasing the pace of development of partnerships in the field of education between Israel and the higher educational institutions of Uzbekistan, where an important aspect is the exchange of students, as well as work on joint educational programs and scientific projects. In addition, Aziz Abdukhakimov spoke about the reforms in the field of tourism in Uzbekistan and about the large-scale work carried out on the eve of the SCO summit to reflect the spirit of Samarkand, under the leadership of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev.

In his speech, the rector of the Holon Technological University Prof. Eduard Yakubov thanked all the forum participants present, and also noted that in accordance with the mutual desire of the peoples of Israel and Uzbekistan to develop educational cooperation as the basis for training highly qualified personnel for the foreign economic relations of the two countries, having common priorities in areas of tourism development and scientific research.

The program of the forum is dedicated to the first Israeli-Uzbek academic forum and disciplines (STEM): Cultural heritage and tourism, innovative technologies, information, computer and museum technologies.

The purpose of this forum was to bring together senior representatives of academia, industry and society from Israel, the UAE and Central Asian countries along with senior Uzbek representatives in the fields of innovation, academia, industry, health and environmental systems, and tourism heritage.

The participants of the conference aim to promote collaboration and practical progress, and share new trends in areas such as science and technology, artificial intelligence, machine learning and big data analysis, and other deep learning disciplines based on applied mathematics, digital medical technologies, technology cultural heritage and tourism, educational e-learning technologies and much more.

It is important that the first Uzbek-Israeli academic forum has already been held in Tashkent and Bukhara.