PM arrives in Uzbekistan to attend SCO summit

Samarkand: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday arrived in Uzbekistan on a two-day visit to attend the annual meeting of the heads of state of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization being held on September 15-16.

Prime Minister of Uzbekistan Abdulla Aripov received PM Sharif on his arrival at the Samarkand International Airport. Minister for Public Education Uzbekistan Bakhtiyor Saidov, Governor Samarkand Erkinjon Turdimov, Acting Foreign Minister Gayrat Fozilov and Uzbekistan’s ambassador in Pakistan Aybek Arif Usmanov were present.

In a tweet prior to his departure, the prime minister said Pakistan reiterated its commitment to ‘Shanghai Spirit’.

“Mutual respect and trust can be the bedrock of shared development and prosperity,” he posted on his Twitter handle. 

He said the SCO had a great potential to chart a way forward at a time of deeply worrying transformation in the geo-political and geo-economic fields 

“The global economic turbulence has necessitated the need for more cooperation among the SCO member countries. The SCO vision represents the aspirations of 40 percent of world population,” he said.

On the first day of his two-day visit, the prime minister will hold separate meetings with the President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev and President of Tajikistan Imomali Rehmon. 

The prime minister is scheduled to meet other world leaders including Russian President Vladimir Putin, Turkiye’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, and Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov.

Soon after his arrival at the Samarkand Airport, the prime minister will proceed to the Hazrat Khizr Complex, where he will visit the Khizr Mosque and will also pay respects at the mausoleum of Uzbekistan’s first president, Islam Karimov.

The prime minister will attend the banquet hosted by the Uzbek president in honour of the guest leaders.