Uzbekistan ready to facilitate: Afghan peace talks, says envoy

PESHAWAR: Head of Mission of the Republic of Uzbekistan Lt Col Sadulla Tashmatov said on Saturday that his country was willing to facilitate the Afghan peace process.

He was talking at an interactive session on Pak-Uzbek bilateral relations at the Area Study Centre (Russia, China and Central Asia) University of Peshawar (UoP). He inaugurated Alisher Navoi Research Corner at the Centre and gifted the new Uzbek dictionary and Uzbek books of Uzbek Poet Alisher Navoi to the Alisher Navoi Research Corner. The envoy said that Uzbekistan was ready to facilitate the Afghan peace process and had already offered its services to host intra-Afghan dialogue in Samarqand. He said that Uzbekistan had concrete plans to develop railway lines from Termez-Mazare Sharif via Kabul-Jalalabad to Peshawar. “It will revolutionize economic activities in the region,” he remarked.

He added that Uzbekistan wanted to boost bilateral trade and it was interested in using the Gwadar and Karachi ports for transit trade, saying that Uzbekistan was ready to join the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project. Earlier, UoP Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Muhammad Abid welcomed the head of Mission of Uzbekistan and said that Pak-Uzbek brotherly relations were rooted in common history and culture. He added that there was warmth and closeness in bilateral relations between the two countries. He added that academic and research cooperation can be further enhanced through faculty and scholar exchange programmes.