Chinese, Uzbek presidents hold talks on boosting ties

Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Uzbek counterpart Islam Karimov held talks here Monday on further development of bilateral relations and cooperation. Chinese President is in Tashkent for a state visit as a guest of Karimov, according to China’s (Xinhua) News Agency. “I am confident that this visit will be successful and inject fresh vigor into the development of the China-Uzbekistan strategic partnership,” Xi said upon his arrival. Since establishing diplomatic relations in 1992, China and Uzbekistan have witnessed rapid development of bilateral cooperation. The two countries upgraded their relationship to a strategic partnership in 2012. During the first half of this year, the bilateral trade volume reached 2.1 billion US dollars, up 52% compared to the same period of last year. Xi flew to the Uzbek capital after wrapping up a state visit to Kazakhstan. Earlier in his ongoing overseas trip, he visited Turkmenistan and attended a Group of 20 summit in the Russian city of St. Petersburg. After Uzbekistan, the Chinese president is to pay a state visit to Kyrgyzstan, where he will also attend a Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit.