ANKARA
"There is no problem between Ankara and Tashkent in terms of political relations. However, there are some malfunctions but these are not causing problems. We have to clearly separate these two things," Uzbek ambassador in Ankara Ulfat Kadyrov told AA in an exclusive interview.
"Turkey has great importance for Uzbekistan," he said.
Reminding Turkey's ambassador in Tashkent Mehmet Sertac Sonmez's meeting with Uzbekistan's Foreign Minister Abdulaziz Kamilov and Turkey's Culture & Tourism Minister Ertugrul Gunay's visit to Tashkent the previous week, Kadyrov stated that the relations between both countries were on the right track.
Kadyrov said that Ankara and Tashkent would take new steps in order to boost the relations.
"Our president Islom Karimov considers Turkey as a pivotal country. Turkey is a brother country for us. Turkey was the first country that had helped us when we gained our independence and our nation will never forget it. I firmly believe that if the two countries cooperate well, we would get rid of those malfunctions between both countries. There will be several meetings at the level of foreign ministers in the coming days. I am certain that those meetings will be so beneficial in terms of escalating relations," he said.
Kadyrov also invited Turkish businessmen to invest in Uzbekistan.
He stated that while the trade volume between both countries was 126 million USD in 2001, the figure reached 1.3 million USD in 2011.
The ambassador said that his country demanded to expand economic cooperation with Turkey.
