Uzbekistan looking foreword to visit of Chinese president
TASHKENT. Sept 6 (Interfax) - Chinese President Xi Jinping will make an official visit to Uzbekistan on September 8-10 at the invitation of Uzbek President Islam Karimov, Interfax was told at the presidential administration on Thursday.
One-on-one talks as well as talks between full delegations are expected in Tashkent. The current state of and prospects for strengthening Uzbek-Chinese strategic partnership, the expansion of trade, economic and investment cooperation will be discussed, interaction in the framework of international organizations will be considered and opinions exchanged on pressing regional problems.
"At the end of the talks the heads of state will sign a treaty of friendship and cooperation and a joint declaration of the further development of bilateral relations in a strategic partnership as well as several documents on economic cooperation," a spokesman for the administration said.
According to official statistics, mutual trade turnover between Uzbekistan and China in H1 2013 grew 24% compared to the same period of 2012 reaching $3.36 billion.
Today Uzbekistan has almost 500 companies with Chinese investments, 70 of them are fully owned by the Chinese. In addition, over 70 Chinese companies have accredited representative offices in Uzbekistan.