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Vladimir Putin: There is a proposal for you to head our inter-governmental commission in Uzbekistan. I talked to the President of Uzbekistan about this today. I told him about our proposals. He will be happy if this takes place.

I would ask you then to begin this work immediately. As you know, relations with Uzbekistan have a strong tradition and are multi-faceted. Here, of course, a great deal remains to be done to stop the unfavourable tendency of a reduction in the volumes of our trade turnover.

But mutual relations with Uzbekistan should not be restricted to trade alone. We must work with a long-term perspective in mind and create good conditions for development. And here we must above all talk of creating favourable conditions for investment from both sides.

In the energy sphere our mutual relations are good. The leadership of Uzbekistan has confirmed its intention to develop relations in this area. As you know, Gazprom held talks recently with its colleagues in Uzbekistan, and the prospects here are very good.

But this is not all. There is also an opportunity for wider production cooperation and a number of other issues.

As you are also involved in organising the work of the industrial bloc, it is quite natural that you should also work on regulating our cooperation with Uzbekistan.