Chinese vice premier visits Uzbekistan, co-chairs intergovernmental meeting

TASHKENT, May 15 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Vice Premier Liu Guozhong visited Uzbekistan from Monday to Wednesday and held a meeting with Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev.

During his visit, Liu, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, held talks and co-chaired the Seventh Meeting of the China-Uzbekistan Intergovernmental Cooperation Committee with Uzbek Prime Minister Abdulla Aripov.

Liu conveyed cordial greetings from President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang to President Mirziyoyev and Prime Minister Aripov.

Liu said that the heads of state of both countries have jointly announced developing an all-weather comprehensive strategic partnership for a new era and promoting the building of a China-Uzbekistan community with a shared future from a higher starting point, ushering in a new chapter in China-Uzbekistan relations.

China is willing to work with Uzbekistan, guided by the consensus of the two heads of state, to firmly support each other on issues of core interests, and continuously deepen and expand cooperation in various fields, enriching the substantive content of the China-Uzbekistan community with a shared future, Liu said.

Mirziyoyev and Aripov asked Liu to convey their warm greetings to President Xi and Premier Li. They said that Uzbekistan highly values its relations with China, will steadfastly adhere to the one-China principle, continuously elevate the level of comprehensive reciprocal cooperation between the two countries, and contribute to the common development to benefit the well-being of the people of both countries.

On Monday, Liu and Aripov co-chaired the Seventh Meeting of the China-Uzbekistan Intergovernmental Cooperation Committee, where they thoroughly reviewed the cooperation between both countries. They exchanged views on cooperation in key areas such as economy and trade, energy, transportation, agriculture, science and technology, cultural exchanges, and poverty reduction, and made new arrangements for future cooperation. After the meeting, both sides signed the minutes of the meeting.

During his visit, Liu inspected several bilateral cooperation projects, including the Peng Sheng Industrial Park and the China-Uzbekistan Medicine Technical Park.