Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan sign strategic partnership declaration

ITAR-TASS March 23 Uzbek President Islam Karimov and Azerbaijani President Ilkham Aliyev have signed in Tashkent a package of six documents, including a declaration on further consolidation of strategic partnership between Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan. The heads of states have also signed agreements on scientific and technical cooperation and cooperation between the city halls of Baku and Tashkent. The two presidents appreciated Russian President Vladimir Putin’s positive influence on the processes in the post-Soviet space. Karimov and Aliyev made such an assessment at a joint news conference ending Aliyev’s two-day visit to Uzbekistan. The leaders had discussed the struggle against international terrorism and bilateral relations. They also touched upon the problems of joint struggle against religious extremism, fanaticism, drugs trafficking, security in Central Asia and Afghanistan. Karimov and Aliyev exchanged views on the problems of developing trade relations. In 2003, the trade turnover between the two countries amounted to 9.5 million U.S. dollars, falling short of the existing potential, the Uzbek president’s press service said. The director-general of the Chkalov Tashkent Aircraft Production Enterprise, Vadim Kucherov and director-general of the Azerbaijan Airlines concern Dzhakhangir Askerov signed a memorandum on the supply of two Uzbekistan-built airliners to Azerbaijan.