The two leaders held one-to-one talks followed by an expanded-format meeting of the two delegations.

At the end of the meeting, the sides signed a number of mutually beneficial documents. The documents signed there include an agreement between the Republic of Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan on mutual extradition of convicts for further serving their prison terms; an agreement between the governments of the Republic of Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan on cooperation in combating crime; an agreement between the governments of the Republic of Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan on handing over to each other wanted persons harbouring on the territories of the two countries; an agreement between the governments of the Republic of Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan on the activities of border checkpoints on the Uzbek-Turkmen state borders; a protocol between the National Security Service of the Republic of Uzbekistan and the State Border Service of Turkmenistan on cooperation in rapid search actions; protocol No 4 to the agreement between the National Security Service of the Republic of Uzbekistan and the Ministry of National Security of Turkmenistan on mutual assistance and cooperation; an agreement between Uzbekturizm national company of the Republic of Uzbekistan and the State Committee on Tourism and Sports of Turkmenistan on partnership in the sphere of tourism.

Following the ceremony, presidents Islam Karimov and Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow addressed the media.

Islam Karimov said: “I am very glad to welcome President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow of Turkmenistan in our hospitable land. We see the visit by the Turkmen president as a significant political event in the history of relations between our countries and also as a logical continuation of our previous fruitful meetings we have had in Ashgabat and Tashkent and also as another specific confirmation of dynamically developing Uzbek-Turkmen ties.”

“The talks during which we discussed a wide range of important issues of mutual interest on bilateral and regional matters and also on topical international problems confirmed the commonness or similarity of our views practically in many issues discussed here,” Uzbek leader said.

Both sides expressed a strong political will and desire to develop further our multifaceted cooperation and to coordinate our efforts in withstanding modern challenges and threats such as combating terrorism, extremism and drug trafficking, strengthening the security of our frontiers as well as security in the region on the whole.

Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow said: “Today we have had a high level talks between Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan during which we discussed the current state of and prospects for our bilateral relations, and issues of regional and international matters of mutual interest. We have established specific fields of mutual interaction in the future.”

“I would like to note the constructive nature of our talks held here in a traditional atmosphere of friendship, openness, mutual confidence and understanding.

“Our talks confirmed once again adherence of Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan to steady expansion of partnership, strengthening neighbourly relations between the two fraternal nations.

“I would like to say that we highly appreciate the current state of our dynamically advancing relations with Uzbekistan based on principles of equality and mutual benefit,” he said.

Volumes of bilateral trade are steadily increasing and contacts in cultural, scientific and humanitarian and many other areas are expanding.

“Today we signed a package of important accords in a number of new areas of Turkmen-Uzbek partnership,” he added.