President of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov is on an official visit in Cairo, Egypt. On 18 April, the official welcoming ceremony of the President of Uzbekistan was held at the Egypt President’s palace, UzA reported.

Islam Karimov and Hosni Mubarak held a face-to-face meeting, during which they discussed the current state and perspectives of relations, international issues and Uzbekistan’s and Egypt’s cooperation in the framework of international organizations.

The presidents said they had similar views on development of political, trade-economic and humanitarian-cultural cooperation between the two countries. They also expressed common views on the need for coordinated fight against terrorism, extremism, drug traffic and organized transnational crime.

At the extended negotiations of the official delegations of Uzbekistan and Egypt, issues of expansion of economic and humanitarian cooperation were considered. The two countries have a huge potential for economic cooperation, and should use it more extensively, the sides agreed. They named high-tech, biotechnologies, tourism and other sectors among priority directions for cooperation.

President Islam Karimov held talks with Egypt’s Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif, and they discussed expansion of economic, humanitarian and cultural cooperation. They expressed hope that Uzbekistan President’s visit to Egypt would raise the two countries’ relations to a new level.

After the negotiations, Uzbekistan and Egypt adopted a Joint Communiqué. Also signed were the intergovernmental agreements on cooperation in fighting organized crime and terrorism, as well as training judges and exchange of experience in legal field.

The sides inked cooperation protocols in the fields of information and cultural cooperation in 2007-2010, as well as memorandums on understanding between the Uzbek Culture and Sports Ministry and Egypt’s National Sports Council, Uzbek Foreign Economic Relations, Investments and Trade Ministry and Egypt’s International Cooperation Ministry, Trade and Commerce Chamber of Uzbekistan and Commerce Chambers Federation of Egypt, Uzinfoinvest Agency and Investments and Free Zones Direction of Egypt, Uzbek Agency for Standardization, Metrology and Certification and Egypt Standardization and Quality Organization, as well as the central banks of the two countries.

National Library of Uzbekistan and the Alexandria Library of Egypt signed a protocol of cooperation, while the National Bank of Uzbekistan and the National Bank of Egypt, Banque Du Caire and Banque Misr signed a financial cooperation agreement.

President Islam Karimov also received the Foreign Minister of Egypt Ahmed Aboul Gheit. Their negotiations focused on development of cooperation between the two states’ foreign ministries, including regular bilateral consultations.

The leader of Uzbekistan met the Arab League Secretary General Amr Musa to discuss cooperation with this organization and development of relations with Arab states. After the talks, the memorandum of understanding was signed between the Foreign Ministry of Uzbekistan and the General Secretariat of the Arab League.

Islam Karimov then visited the Unknown Soldier Memorial and Anwar Sadat Memorial and laid flowers to the monuments

The official visit of the President of Uzbekistan to Egypt will end on 19 April.