- Mr president, could you please tell us what significance is attached to the development of Uzbek-Egyptian relations and what priority issues are to be discussed at the high-level talks?

President Islam Karimov: It would not be an exaggeration to say that our current relations with Egypt are developing dynamically. That is, if we deeply analyze the current state of things, I am pleased to say that the Egyptian leadership and its public have the political will to establish closer and more mutually beneficial relations with Uzbekistan, and that they are trying to know more about Uzbekistan.

Over 800 Uzbek businessmen have undergone training in Egypt; there are about 50 Uzbek students studying at Egyptian universities.

We have great potential for developing cooperation in the spheres of trade and investment. If we look at trade between the two states, there is nothing to boast about, if we look at this from a critical point of view, trade is worth about 4m dollars. This figure shows that great potential remains unused.

Ways of boosting economic cooperation and new joint ventures will be discussed during the talks.

Our recent history, through cases of certain forces attempting to create problems for Uzbekistan, or rather to isolate Uzbekistan and create a wrong international image about the country, once again demonstrated to us who is a real friend of ours and who is just in words. They speak much, but in practice, one cannot say, or at least we do not see, they show what we call friendly behaviour. Uzbekistan once again became convinced that the international community, many states of the world, notably states like Egypt, turned out a faithful friend of ours and once again proved their devotion by being objective and showing support.

From this point of view, we are not simply grateful to Egypt [changes tack]. Also, because of this [Egypt’s support] we once again became convinced that the relations should be further strengthened.

Our cooperation in the international arena should be further strengthened. If we have a look at what problems now face Uzbekistan and Central Asia - as you know, these [same] problems are also facing the Middle East which remain unresolved for several decades - and the problems of fighting terrorism and extremism, fighting manifestations of xenophobia and so on, these all speak for themselves. These problems are not just alike, but common ones.

Any intelligent person understands well that we should join forces to fight common challenges and so-called threats to security.

Egypt is a key state in the Middle East; Egypt and Uzbekistan have much in common; exchanging views on security issues between the two states is important.