On October 20 this year, Deputy Prime Minister - Minister of Investment and Foreign Trade of the Republic of Uzbekistan S. Umurzakov held a number of meetings with the First Vice President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan Amrullah Saleh and the head of the Presidential Administration of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan Mohammad Shaker Kargar during the visit of the Government Delegation of the Republic of Uzbekistan to the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan.

During the meeting with the First Vice President of Afghanistan, the parties considered the joint efforts to minimize the negative effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the economic relations between the two countries, as well as the prospects to expand cooperation between Uzbekistan and Afghanistan in a number of priority areas. The Afghan side expressed its willingness to effectively support the initiatives of Uzbekistan aimed at regional cooperation and stability guaranteeing.

The parties also negotiated on the possible implementation of new joint projects for the construction of road and rail infrastructure, the creation of logistics complexes, and capacities to store fruit and vegetables, as well as the modernization of customs complexes.

The negotiations with the Chief of Staff of the President of Afghanistan Mohammad Shaker Kargar provided determination of further tasks to expand bilateral cooperation. They repeatedly emphasized the mutual readiness to continue active work on the agreements and the development of mutually acceptable solutions on existing issues.

In particular, the parties positively assessed the progress in interaction in education and the importance of further cooperation between higher educational institutions of the two countries. The parties agreed to accelerate joint preparation of the Memorandum between the Ministries of Higher Education of Afghanistan and Uzbekistan providing for the study of Afghan students in the higher educational institutions of Uzbekistan.

The meeting resulted in agreement on the further steps under the bilateral cooperation aimed at accelerated social and economic development of both countries.