Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- In connection with the completion of the diplomatic mission in the city of Rome, a meeting was held between the Ambassador of Uzbekistan Otabek Akbarov and the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of Italy Edmondo Cirielli, Dunyo news agency reported.

Edmondo Cirielli positively assessed the five-year work of the head of the diplomatic mission and, on behalf of the Italian Foreign Ministry, expressed gratitude for the efforts made to take bilateral relations to a new level and give them a multifaceted and sustainable character.

The importance was noted that on 8-9 June, during the official visit of the President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev to Italy, a Joint Declaration was adopted on the establishment of strategic partnership relations between the two countries.

Thus, Italy became the first Western European country to establish such a high level of relations with Uzbekistan. According to the declaration, a mechanism for Strategic Dialogue will be formed at the level of foreign ministers, covering the entire range of political, trade, economic, cultural and humanitarian areas of bilateral relations, as well as international issues of mutual interest.

Over the past years, a solid basis for political and institutional dialogue has been created at the level of the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and a number of other departments, friendship groups are working in the parliaments of the two countries, 2 honorary consulates of Uzbekistan have been established - in Florence and Milan, honorary consulates are planned in other regions of Italy.

In addition, more than 10 new intergovernmental and interdepartmental documents were signed aimed at strengthening cooperation in various areas. These include agreements in the areas of law enforcement, industrial property, agriculture, and culture.

Bilateral cooperation in the economic sphere has reached a qualitatively new level. This was reflected during the Uzbek-Italian high-level business forum, which took place on June 6 at the headquarters of the Association of Italian Industry “Confindustria” in Rome.

A number of large companies and enterprises in Italy, including Eni, Enel, Pietro Fiorentini, Danieli, Imagro Group, Ansaldo Energia, Ferroli, Arsenale, express growing interest in the implementation of industrial and innovative projects in Uzbekistan. Currently, the package of projects being implemented and being developed with Italy exceeds 9 billion euros.

In recent years, direct connections between the regions of Uzbekistan and the regions of Italy have intensified, in particular with Lombardy, Tuscany, Veneto, Umbria, Campania, Marche, Abruzzo and Emilia-Romagna.

A striking event was the visit of the President of Uzbekistan to Milan (Lombardy) on 9 June, during which he met with Governor Attilio Fontana, and also held a round table with the participation of leading companies, agencies and banks in Italy.

In cultural terms, Uzbekistan has participated in the Venice Biennale for the third year in a row. The first Uzbek Culture Center in Italy named after Mirzo Ulugbek was opened in Florence. Exhibitions of paintings from the State Museum of Arts of Karakalpakstan named after I. Savitsky in Italy are planned, as well as the publication of a series of books in Italian about the history and culture of Uzbekistan.

In addition to the Turin Polytechnic University, a branch of the University of Pisa has been opened in Tashkent. The University of Campania Luigi Vanvitelli plans to open training courses in Bukhara. Productive connections have been established with the Naples University of Oriental Studies “L’Orientale” and the Dante Alighieri Society.

The tourist flow from Italy to Uzbekistan is growing steadily, which has already brought Italians to the leading place in Europe in terms of the number of trips to our country.

It should be noted that Otabek Akbarov, appointed Ambassador to Italy in August 2018, also served concurrently as the Ambassador of Uzbekistan to Greece and the permanent representative of the republic to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the World Food Program (WFP) .