RIGA, August 26. /Dunyo IA/. Nina Linde, Director of the Institute of Economics of the Latvian Academy of Sciences, commented to Dunyo IA on the outcomes of the state visit of the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev to Uzbekistan on August 23–24:

— The state visit of the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev to Uzbekistan is of great importance for further strengthening relations between the two countries and represents an important event for the development of interregional cooperation.

Today, relations between Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan have reached a qualitatively new level. They are relations of strategic partnership and alliance based on mutual trust, historical affinity and a shared interest in sustainable economic development. President Ilham Aliyev’s current visit demonstrates how consistently and dynamically this cooperation is developing.

A particularly important outcome of the talks was the signing of the Treaty on Eternal Friendship, which provides the relations between the two states with a long-term and strategic foundation. The holding of the third meeting of the Supreme Intergovernmental Council, in turn, demonstrates the establishment of effective mechanisms for implementing the agreements reached.

The economic component of the visit is of particular importance. The parties set the goal of increasing bilateral trade to $1 billion, expanding industrial cooperation, intensifying investment ties and implementing new projects in energy, geology, the chemical industry, construction, agriculture and other sectors. This demonstrates that the political alliance between Baku and Tashkent is acquiring increasingly concrete economic substance.

The development of transport and transit cooperation offers particularly promising prospects. Joint efforts to promote the Trans-Caspian route and enhance the efficiency of the Middle Corridor could significantly strengthen connectivity between Central Asia and the South Caucasus, expand the region’s access to international markets and provide additional momentum to trade and economic ties between Europe and Asia.

Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan have significant potential to establish new transport and logistics links between the regions. Their cooperation in this area serves not only bilateral interests but also the broader objectives of economic connectivity and sustainable development across the Eurasian space.

The development of cooperation in education, culture, science, youth policy and sports provides a solid foundation for further bringing the peoples of the two countries closer together. The opening of the new building of the Nizami Ganjavi National Pedagogical University and the launch of the Azerbaijan Park project in New Tashkent are symbols of deepening humanitarian ties.

The current visit of the President of Azerbaijan to Uzbekistan opens up new opportunities for implementing joint projects and, in the long term, could become an important factor in strengthening peace, stability and sustainable economic development in the region.