President Jiang Zemin Meets with Uzbekistan President Karimov

On July 5, President Jiang Zemin met with Uzbekistan President Karimov who came to attend the "Shanghai Five" Summit Meeting as observer, at the State Guest House in Dushanbe. The two leaders had a friendly talk.

President Karimov said that he was pleased to meet with President Jiang, and expressed his appreciation for the Chinese government and President Jiang's consistent attention to Uzbekistan. He also thanked China and other four countries for inviting him to the 5th "Shanghai Five" Summit Meeting.

Karimov said that he often recalls the memories of his meeting with President Jiang during his last visit to China. He said that he was deeply impressed by the hospitality and attention shown to his delegation by the Chinese government. He said that Uzbekistan and China are open and trustful. Uzbekistan is a trustworthy and reliable partner of China, and the two countries can work together to do many things. Uzbekistan appreciates China's principled position in the international arena. China will always occupy an important place in Uzbekistan's foreign policy.

Jiang Zemin said that he was very pleased to meet with President Karimov in Dushanbe for the second time. He expressed his welcome to President Karimov to the "Shanghai Five" Summit Meeting. Uzbekistan has important influence in Central Asia. The accession of Uzbekistan to the cooperation process of "Shanghai Five" is of great significance which symbolizes the maturity and perfection of this cooperation mechanism, and opens up a new channel for the Sino-Uzbek cooperation.

Jiang said that the two countries have the same or similar views on many issues and share common interests and concerns. We stand on the same ground especially in cracking down separatism, terrorism, extremism and maintaining regional peace and stability. I believe that the accession of Uzbekistan will inject vitality into the development of "Shanghai Five" mechanism.

Jiang said that he totally agrees with Karimov's appraisal of the Sino-Uzbek relations. He said that after eight years of joint effort by the two countries, the bilateral relations between China and Uzbekistan have established a sound basis, and cooperation in every area has been fruitful. The bilateral economic and trade cooperation has scored great achievements and the level of cooperation has been improved. We shall continue to strive to promote further development of the bilateral relations.

The two sides also exchanged views on issues of common concern.

Premier Qian Qichen was present at the meeting.

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