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The meeting took place on the sidelines of the SCO summit, which will be held on June 10.

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President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Mr President, friends and colleagues, I am glad to meet with you again.

I would like to begin this meeting by saying that a great deal has changed, or more precisely, improved in our relations since your visit to Russia. Our trade is growing rapidly. I believe it increased by 33.9 or nearly 34 percent last year and by over 43 percent in January-March this year.

We are implementing large projects. Russia’s LUKOIL alone has invested $7 billion in Uzbekistan. We have established a green corridor on the border based on your initiative. Mutual trade in fruit and vegetables has been growing rapidly, by 35–36 percent. In short, our ties are improving. In addition to LUKOIL and Gazprom, other Russian companies are doing well in mechanical engineering and other areas. There are nearly 1,000 of such companies, both big and small.

The overall dynamics is very good. We will also meet in the framework of the CIS, and I remember about your invitation. I will be delighted to make a working visit to Uzbekistan somewhere in the autumn, as we planned.

I am very pleased to see you.

President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev: Thank you.

Mr President, once again my congratulations on your re-election. In Uzbekistan, we all believe that Russia has secured its future and elected a worthy leader. My sincere congratulations to you.

Of course, as you have just noted, strategic partnership and alliance is an unfailing course of Uzbekistan’s foreign policy. This is unprecedented: in the past year, 70 delegations from Russia have visited Uzbekistan. There have been 21 regional visits. As you already said, the trade is growing, by over 40 percent over the first quarter.

We have some ambitious projects in the pipeline. You particularly noted the oil and gas industry. The Kandym Gas Processing Complex is unique, it is the largest in Central Asia. We built it with LUKOIL in two years. It was the fastest construction project for such a facility.

We work with all Russian companies in all sectors with great confidence, trust and dedication. If just a year ago, we could name only oil and gas companies, today I cannot name a single industry in which we do not cooperate.

Thank you very much. A green corridor has been created for farming produce. We had talked about that for a long time, ten or fifteen years. Thanks to your strong will, the amount of Uzbekistani produce entering the Russian market without intermediaries is growing, as you have said.

I think we have many things to talk about. We are expecting you with a state visit. We agreed on October. I think today we also have much to discuss with our colleagues.

My sincere thank you for appointing Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev chairman of the intergovernmental commission. I think this indicates your serious attitude to our cooperation. You yourself also pay great attention to it. This says a lot.

Based on the year’s results, we are anticipating some major projects, even in peaceful atom. We will also discuss the construction of a nuclear power plant. I have already met with Alexei Likhachev (Rosatom CEO) several times and we coordinated the details with your support. I think this will also be a strategic area of our cooperation.

I am glad to see you. Thank you very much.

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