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Vladimir Putin: Dear Islam Abduganievich [Karimov]! Dear colleagues and friends!

Allow me to once again warmly welcome you to Moscow. It is very pleasant for me that we are gathered here both to discuss current issues and to take one more serious step towards strengthening our bilateral ties. Today we shall sign the alliance agreement.

Today I would like to thank all colleagues, both Russian and Uzbekistani, who worked on this document. It was prepared quite quickly, but extremely professionally and thoroughly. Our shared opinion is that Russian-Uzbek relations are developing more and more. This is a sign that the preconditions for attaining a new level – an original alliance relationship – exist.

During private discussions we just had with the President of Uzbekistan, we noted the record rates at which economic ties are developing. Growth this year is practically 30 to 35 percent, and can continue in many different directions. Areas such as energy, large scale projects, engineering and aviation. Just recently our experts met and discussed all these questions. The Russian experts that took part in the discussion have reported to me in detail on the agreements that were reached.

Dear Islam Abduganievich! Dear friends!

I want to assure you that the Russian party will place no obstacles in the way of expanding our cooperation in all these directions.