Uzbekistan Wants to Take Part in Oil and Gas Exploration in Afghanistan
Uzbekistan Wants to Take Part in Oil and Gas Exploration in Afghanistan
Uzbekistan is reportedly ready to participate in oil and gas exploration in Afghanistan.
Uzbek Prime Minister Abdulla Aripov met with Mullah Abdulgani Birader, the Deputy Prime Minister of the interim government of Afghanistan, and exchanged views on the state and prospects of cooperation between the two countries.
During the meeting, both sides emphasized that the relations between their countries and peoples are based on the principles of friendship, cooperation, and good neighborliness. They also recalled that Uzbekistan's President Shavkat Mirziyoyev places special importance on developing constructive cooperation with Afghanistan in all areas.
Aripov and Birader reviewed in detail issues related to further expanding mutually beneficial relations, including the steady development of cooperation in trade, economics, energy, oil and gas, transportation, and other sectors.
During his visit, Birader also met with Uzbek Deputy Prime Minister Jamshid Khodjaev, and discussed increasing the volume of mutual trade and transit, enhancing cooperation in energy and industry, and establishing a joint free trade zone between the two nations.
They also discussed the creation of a 500-kilowatt electricity transmission line between the two countries and the Trans-Afghan project. Additionally, they explored the use of national currencies in mutual trade, the involvement of Uzbek companies in oil and gas exploration in Afghanistan, and opportunities for Uzbek businesspeople to invest in various sectors of Afghanistan's economy.
Birader highlighted that Afghanistan and Uzbekistan share many religious, historical, cultural, and ethnic commonalities, which have had a profound and positive impact on the political and economic relations between the two countries.
Khodjaev also expressed the willingness of Uzbek businessmen to participate in the exploration, discovery, and production of oil and natural gas in Afghanistan, as well as to invest in the construction of a cement factory in the Samangan region of Afghanistan.
The Afghan delegation also visited several production facilities in Tashkent as part of their ongoing contacts in the country.