Malaysia "A trustful and time-tested partner of Uzbekistan", says Ambassador

By V.Sankara

KUALA LUMPUR, March 1 -- The Malaysia-Uzbekistan bilateral relationship has grown exponentially over the past 29 years and has enjoyed long-term cooperation in the field of politics, trade, economy, science, education, culture and tourism within the framework of international organisations, said Uzbekistan Ambassador to Malaysia, Ravshan Usmanov.

Usmanov said Uzbekistan is keen to deepen its relations with Malaysia on the basis of traditional friendship for the benefit of both nations and perceive Malaysia as “a country with a very high status not only in ASEAN but in the entire Muslim world, as well as a trustful and time-tested partner of Uzbekistan”.

“Uzbekistan will be working to further strengthening its mutually beneficial cooperation with Malaysia, especially in trade, economy, investment, and tourism spheres.

“We know that Malaysia has a good experience in these fields and we will try to learn the experience of the country to introduce their modern technologies and management skills to the different sectors of our economy,” he told Bernama in an exclusive interview via email in conjunction with the 29th-anniversary celebration of the diplomatic relations between Malaysia and Uzbekistan.

Uzbekistan’s diplomatic relations with Malaysia began in 1992, a year after the republic declared its independence from the Soviet Union, and joined a grouping of former Soviet republics known as the Commonwealth of Independent States.

The ambassador said the similarities shared between Uzbekistan and Malaysia in terms of values, customs, traditions, sacred Islamic religion, and good interstate relations will serve as a solid basis for the development of people-to-people diplomacy.

Uzbekistan, he said, is keen on deepening relations with Malaysia on the basis of traditional friendship for the benefit of both nations.

“In this regard, by the end of this year, we are planning to have our next round of political consultations between foreign ministries of both nations, besides looking forward to hosting several Malaysian business delegations in Uzbekistan and mutual participation of tourism fairs in both countries,” he said.

Commenting on the recent major achievements in bilateral relations of both nations, Usmanov said the Interparliamentary Friendship Groups in the House of Representatives of the Parliament of Malaysia and Legislative Chamber of the Oliy Majlis (Parliament) of Uzbekistan was established recently.

“Also, in June 2020 was held the first Inter-parliamentary Forum on ‘Development of parliamentarism: The experience of Uzbekistan and Malaysia’,” he added.

He said a high-level delegation from Uzbekistan participated in the Kuala Lumpur Summit titled ‘The Role of Development in Achieving National Sovereignty’ in Dec 2019, besides having the fourth round of political consultations between the foreign ministries of Uzbekistan and Malaysia in September 2019 in Tashkent.

Usmanov said Malaysia has been an active participant by sending observers to witness Uzbekistan's Parliamentary elections and added the Malaysian Delegation was one of the biggest foreign delegations to the Parliamentary Election to Uzbekistan in 2019.

He said in total, there were around 25 international observers from Malaysia, which was led by Deputy Speaker of Dewan Rakyat (House of Representatives) Datuk Mohd Rashid Hasnon, and attended by delegates comprising the senior representatives of Malaysia's Foreign Ministry and Election Commission, among others.

“These elections were an important milestone in the further strengthening of the foundations of democratic rule of law and strong civil society in Uzbekistan.

“Overall, members of the Malaysian delegation noted that the elections were held at a high organisational level and in accordance with the principles of openness, transparency, and equality.

“Of course, there were some recommendations from the Malaysian perspectives, which were sent to Central Election Commission of Uzbekistan for further consideration,” he added.

The diplomat hoped the Malaysian delegation would participate again as foreign observers for Uzbekistan’s presidential elections on Oct 24 this year which is regarded as the most important upcoming political event for Uzbekistan.

-- BERNAMA