It will be Karimov's sixth official visit to China after his last one in April 2011, Xinhua reported.

During his visit, Karimov will exchange views with Chinese leaders on China-Uzbekistan ties as well as major international and regional issues of common concern.

In an interview with Xinhua, Ambassador Zhang Xiao said China and Uzbekistan have maintained close high-level exchanges, strengthened their political mutual trust, conducted fruitful security and economic cooperation, and kept increasingly frequent cultural exchanges over the past 20 years since the two countries established diplomatic relations.

According to Uzbek official statistics, the two-way trade volume between China and Uzbekistan reached 2.6 billion U.S. dollars in 2011, nearly 50 times the volume in the early period of the ties.

By the end of 2011, China's investment in Uzbekistan reached 4 billion dollars. China is Uzbekistan's third largest trading partner, the largest investor, the largest buyer of its cotton and major supplier of telecommunication equipment.

Over 400 Chinese enterprises have invested in Uzbekistan, covering areas of energy, transportation, telecommunications, petrochemistry, construction, agriculture and finance, Zhang said.

China and Uzbekistan set up an inter-government cooperation committee in October 2011. The first meeting of the cooperation committee was held this March, mulling ways to realize the goal of enlarging the two-way trade volume to 5 billion dollars by 2015.

Security cooperation is another highlight of the friendly cooperative partnership between China and Uzbekistan, said the ambassador.

The two countries have cooperated with each other to crack down on the "three evil forces" and jointly safeguarded their security and interests, he said.

Within the SCO framework, China firmly supports the Tashkent-based regional anti-terror agency of the SCO.

China and Uzbekistan have also supported each other during the term of their respective rotating presidency, he said.

The active cooperation between the two countries within the SCO constitutes an important part of the bilateral strategic coordination, Zhang said.

In addition, the two countries have maintained sound cooperation within the United Nations and other international organizations and staunchly offered support for each other on major issues involving their interests, he added.

China established diplomatic relations with Uzbekistan in January 1992.