Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s opening remarks during a meeting with Foreign Minister of the Republic of Uzbekistan Bakhtiyor Saidov, Samarkand, April 13, 2023 

Mr Saidov,

Friends,

Thank you for inviting us to this wonderful city. As you said, it is truly a gem not only of Central Asia but also of world culture and history.

We are grateful for your support of our proposal to hold a regular ministerial meeting of the Central Asian Five and the Russian Federation in parallel to the CIS Council of Foreign Ministers. This meeting will take place tomorrow. I think it will facilitate the implementation of the tasks we have been assigned by the leaders of our six countries at their first summit in Astana in the autumn of 2022. There is no doubt that these tasks embrace security, economic cooperation, environmental protection and many other issues.

Our bilateral meeting with you today is of much importance from the point of view of implementing agreements reached by our presidents. They maintain regular contacts. This year will not be an exception. There is no doubt about it.

Thank you for organising our work in this wonderful place. I am confident that we will achieve good results in all formats.