Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- On 28 September, Deputy Prime Minister - Minister of Investment and Foreign Trade of the Republic of Uzbekistan Jamshid Khodjaev met with the Minister for Hajj and Umrah of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Tawfiq bin Fawzan bin Mohammed Al-Rabiah, during which the main aspects and prospects for the development of multifaceted cooperation, as well as issues of organizing the Hajj and Umrah for the citizens of Uzbekistan.

The parties highly appreciated the progressive development of multifaceted mutually beneficial relations between Uzbekistan and the Saudi Arabia, including the intensification of dialogue in the political, economic and tourism spheres.

Mutual interest was emphasized in the further development of comprehensive and long-term cooperation with Saudi Arabia, which received an additional impetus and rose to a completely new level thanks to the first historical visit of the Head of Uzbekistan to Saudi Arabia in August this year in 30 years.

In particular, during the visit, agreements worth US$15 billion were signed with Saudi Arabian companies and agreements were reached on the implementation of 14 joint projects in the fields of energy, chemistry, healthcare, agriculture, construction, pharmaceuticals, infrastructure, etc.

Issues of bilateral trade between the two countries were touched upon. The parties noted the existence of great opportunities for the further development of trade relations between Uzbekistan and Saudi Arabia, meaning the expansion of the range of goods supplied and the expansion of transport and logistics links.

The issues of organizing the Hajj and Umra pilgrimages for Uzbeks were discussed separately. The parties welcomed the abolition of Umrah quotas from October 2018, which created conditions for the implementation of the intentions of the population, which had previously been forced to wait for such an opportunity for a long time. An agreement was reached to intensify work on optimizing conditions for Uzbek pilgrims to pass through border and customs control, electronic registration of biometric data.

As a result of the meeting, mutual commitment was expressed to the accelerated implementation of all discussed issues and initiatives.