Afghanistan Times
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AT Monitoring Desk-KABUL: President Ashraf Ghani and a number of his ministers on Tuesday have signed more than 20 bilateral cooperation agreements with their Uzbek counterparts in Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan.
The official visit of high-ranking Afghan delegation, comprising Foreign Minister Salahuddin Rabbani and the National Security Adviser Mohammad Haneef Atmar led by President Ashraf Ghani has been resulted in signing of more than 20 bilateral agreements with Uzbekistan that include economic, security, transit, agriculture, electricity, health and higher education.
After the signing the agreements, President Ghani in a joint press conference thanked the Uzbek President for his friendly support to peace and stability in Afghanistan, adding the Uzbek leader has laid the foundation of an agenda for regional cooperation.
“Afghanistan supports Uzbekistan’s position adopted at the UN, which is highlighted in President Donald Trump’s new strategy,” Ghani said, adding “The government and people of Afghanistan want Uzbekistan as a trading partner which would be for the benefit of both countries.”
“Today we signed agreements which reflect state-to-state cooperation. 2018 will be the year of implementation of our goals. We have to make every human effort to ensure that the Surkhan Dara is connected to Pul-e-Khumri (capital of Baghlan province in Afghanistan),” Ghani furthered.
President Ghani went on saying, “We have to devote next month to see how we make move to implementing and financing the railway project from Mazar-e-Sharif to Herat.”
On his turn, Uzbek President Mirziyoyev expressed strong support of his country for peace and stability in Afghanistan.
“Tashkent strongly valued cooperation with Afghanistan in all spheres, including economic and security ties. Cooperation agreements signed between the two nations are worth millions of dollars,” he said.
He added a joint commission was authorized to oversee the implementation of the cooperation agreements signed between the two countries.
He also pledged to open another consulate in Afghanistan in the nearest time.
Moreover, the Afghan National Security Adviser and his Uzbek counterpart also signed a Memorandum of Understanding on maintaining the security of the Hairatan Bridge.
Similarly, Foreign Minister Salahuddin Rabbani and Uzbek Health Minister signed a Memorandum of Understanding on healthcare and Finance Minister Eklil Hakimi signed an agreement on bilateral assistance and economic cooperation between the two countries.
President Ashraf Ghani also extended his official invitation to his Uzbek counterpart, Mirziyoyev to visit Afghanistan and the Uzbek president accepted the invitation.
