Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- A meeting was held at the International Institute of Central Asia with the Ambassador of Qatar to Uzbekistan Hassan bin Hamza Hashim.

During the conversation, the head of the diplomatic mission stated the significance of the results of the first summit of the heads of state of Central Asia and the Gulf, held in July 2023 in Jeddah. The Ambassador noted that Qatar fully supports the initiative to establish a strategic dialogue in this format, emphasizing that this provides an opportunity to expand trade, economic, cultural and humanitarian ties between the regions, as well as investment projects of the Gulf countries in Central Asia.

The diplomat highly appreciated the level of relations between Uzbekistan and Qatar, which are developing at an accelerated pace in all areas. It was noted that last year three mutual visits were made at the highest level, which became significant events in the history of bilateral relations and gave a powerful impetus to the development of cooperation.

During the meeting, the parties also paid special attention to the seventh ceremony of awarding the high International Anti-Corruption Award, held in December 2023 in Tashkent.

According to the ambassador, today Uzbekistan is implementing systemic legal and institutional reforms in the fight against corruption. He acknowledged that the fight against corruption in the new Uzbekistan has become the highest priority direction of state policy, and emphasized that this contributed to Qatar’s promotion of the initiative to hold a high-level event in the capital of our country.

At the end of the meeting, Hassan bin Hamza Hashim expressed his readiness to assist in establishing partnerships between MICA and such leading analytical institutions in Qatar as the Doha Research Center and the Diplomatic Academy at the Qatar Ministry of Foreign Affairs.