OREANDA-NEWS. President of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov received the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Turkey Ahmet Davutoglu at the presidential residence Oqsaroy in Tashkent on 10 July 2014.

Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Turkey Ahmet Davutoglu arrived in Uzbekistan on 10 July with three-day official visit.

The press service of the President of Uzbekistan said that Islam Karimov underlined that current meeting provides good opportunity to consider current state of the Uzbek-Turkish relations and exchange views on priority directions in the further consolidation of bilateral cooperation.

It was underlined that Uzbekistan and Turkey have historically been tied by a cultural, linguistic and spiritual community as much as a joint experience of equal and mutually advantageous interaction in the trade-economic and other areas.

Ahmet Davutoglu expressed his gratitude for warm welcome and conveyed a deep respect to the President and the people of Uzbekistan on behalf of Turkey's leadership. He confirmed aspiration of Turkey to lift bilateral relations to a higher level.

The sides discussed wide range of regional and international issues, including situation in Afghanistan, as well as other issues of mutual interest.

Turkey is currently one of five largest foreign trade partners of Uzbekistan. Bilateral trade turnover rose by 10.5% year-on-year in 2013 - to USD 1.347 billion.

Currently, over 485 enterprises with Turkish capital are operating in Uzbekistan.