Russia, Uzbekistan To Ink 10 Documents Soon

President Islam Karimov of Uzbekistan is to pay a state visit to Russia May 3-5, with the sides intending to sign about 10 multi-level documents. This was disclosed to RIA-NOVOSTI here today at Uzbekistan's Embassy. According to an embassy spokesman, those documents stipulate more substantial trade-and-economic and humanitarian cooperation between our two countries, as well as mutual interaction in the field of security. President Vladimir Putin of the Russian Federation had visited Uzbekistan in May 2000, with both countries inking an agreement that envisions expanded cooperation between Uzbekistan's administrative-territorial entities and the Russian Federation's constituent members and an agreement on international motor transport. An agreement on signing military-technical cooperation contracts to the tune of $32 million was also reached. Previously, Russia and Uzbekistan had signed a treaty on further expanding multi-faceted military and military-technical cooperation, an agreement stipulating long-term cotton-fiber shipments to the Russian Federation, as well as the delivery of all the required material-technical resources to Uzbekistan. Moscow hosted a session of the bilateral economic-cooperation commission this past April, with the sides agreeing to establish the Ilyushin international aircraft concern that shall comprise Russia's Ilyushin aircraft design bureau, its Voronezh-based aircraft factory, as well as the Tashkent aircraft factory in Uzbekistan. The Russian-Uzbek trade turnover had topped the $1-billion mark in 2000 for the first time over the last few years, thus exceeding 1999-vintage levels by an impressive 30-plus percent. Russia accounts for 16.3 percent of the entire Uzbek trade turnover. The bilateral trade turnover swelled by 15.1 percent over the January-March 2001 period on similar 2000 levels. 520 Uzbek-Russian joint ventures, as well as Russian firms and companies, are currently registered in Uzbekistan.