“Over the past few years, our bilateral relations in both political as well as economic spheres have accelerated. We want to reshape our relations by enhancing economic ties,” Ambassador Jamolov told The Jakarta Post in a recent interview at his office, in connection with his country’s Independence Day celebrations.

“Our growing ties are set to show their dynamic potential in the future”.

In line with the growing ties, Uzbekistan appointed Jamolov as an ambassador, after a break of around 10 years. During those 10 years, the embassy was headed by a charge d’affaires.

Uzbekistan, the rising star of Central Asia, gained independence on 1 September 1991 from then Soviet Union.

Indonesia recognized the independence of Uzbekistan on.28 December 1991, and established diplomatic relations with it on 23 June 1992.

Right from the beginning, Uzbekistan realized the strategic importance of Indonesia, home to the world’s biggest Muslim population and Southeast Asia’s biggest economy.

“Indonesia was one of the first countries that [our] President Islam Karimov visited after Uzbekistan gained independence. The visit, which took place in 1992, laid the legal foundation for the development of relations between the two countries,” said Jamolov, who submitted his credentials to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on 14 January 2009.

In response to Karimov’s visit, Indonesia’s former president Soeharto paid a visit to Tashkent in April 1995.

These two high-level visits have indeed set the pace and direction for bilateral cooperation, which spans many areas including economics, politics, culture and education.

“Right from the beginning, both countries have recognized importance of each other’s potential. In order to strengthen relations, Indonesia opened its embassy in Tashkent in 1994 and Uzbekistan did so in Jakarta in 1996,” Jamolov said.

When asked about his country’s economic potential, Jamolov said Uzbekistan was a dynamic country with many opportunities.

“We have introduced several economic reforms to turn our economy into a market-economy. We have an investor-friendly climate,’” Jamolov, said.

Like Indonesia, Uzbekistan has huge amounts of natural resources including gold, cotton, natural gas, petrol, coal, uranium, silver, copper, lead, zinc and tungsten. Uzbekistan is the world’s fourth biggest producer of cotton. Uzbekistan’s economy was estimated to grow by 8% last year, slightly lower than 9.5% recorded in 2007.

Being a new ambassador, Jamolov wondered why the good political ties were not contributing to growth in bilateral trade.

“We have excellent political ties with Indonesia. We cooperate closely at so many international forums. But these good ties are not reflected in the economic sphere,” Jamolov said.

The bilateral trade is currently in the US$10-US$30 million range, but dropped to US$13.75 million in 2008 from a record US$28.27 million in 2007. It may decline further this year, because of the global financial crisis.

“At present bilateral trade is way below of our true potential. My main mission in Indonesia is to enhance our economic relations,” Jamolov said.

Uzbekistan presently exports cotton, electrical equipment and wool to Indonesia, and imports cocoa, tea, tobacco, animal and vegetable oil, rubber, tires, cotton fabric and other small wares from Jakarta.

Jamolov had several plans in mind on how to boost bilateral trade.

“I will discuss with both countries’ chambers of commerce how to increase interaction between businesspeople from both countries. I will also try to arrange several trade missions from Indonesia to Uzbekistan, and vice versa,” Jamolov said.

In May 2008, Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda paid a visit to Tashkent. During the visit he met with the Uzbekistan president, foreign minister and other officials.

During the visit, both countries signed a Trade Agreement and intergovernmental memorandum on the establishment of a joint commission for bilateral cooperation, which demonstrates the interest of Uzbekistan and Indonesia to expand of relations in all spheres.

In efforts to expand trade and investment cooperation between Uzbekistan and Indonesia, Jakarta and Tashkent have inked several important agreements, including the Agreement on Economic and Technical Cooperation, the Agreement on Encouraging and Protection of Investments and the Agreement on Avoiding Double Taxation, Jamolov said.

In February this year Uzbekistan Foreign Minister Vladimir Norov visited Jakarta to attend the first ever Joint Commission meeting on bilateral cooperation between the two countries.

Besides the joint commission, Indonesia and Uzbekistan have regularly held bilateral talks since 2005. The Fifth Committee meeting on bilateral consultations will be held in Tashkent this month.

“Both mechanisms serve as intergovernmental panels to discuss and elaborate on recent and future directions of beneficial cooperation between the two countries, and to design ways to support bilateral initiatives in international arenas,” Jamolov said.

Jamolov, a career diplomat who joined the foreign service in 1992, speaks fluent Russian and English and plays tennis regularly in his free time, the Jakarta Post reported.

Jamolov said he and his family were enjoying their stay in Indonesia.

“We feel at home in Jakarta. Here people are very friendly and polite. In order to have closer relationships with my Indonesian friends, I am learning Indonesian,” Jamolov said.