Tashkent to host SCO anti-terrorist center

Russia welcomes an initiative by Uzbekistan to host an anti-terrorist center of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in Tashkent, Russian President Vladimir Putin said after his talks with his Uzbek counterpart Islam Karimov. /The SCO consists of Russia, China, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan/.

"We welcome an initiative by Uzbekistan to host the SCO anti-terrorist center in Tashkent and today Islam Karimov reported what is being done to implement it," Vladimir Putin said.

Moreover, according to the Russian president, during the talks much attention was paid to the development of economic cooperation in the CIS as well as to interaction in the world.

Vladimir Putin informed Islam Karimov about joint efforts by Russia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine and Belarus to create a common economic space in full detail. "I told what had been done," he said.

According to Vladimir Putin, the parties discussed the situation in Afghanistan.

When answering a question about major fields of cooperation between Russia and Uzbekistan Vladimir Putin said that military and technical cooperation as well as cooperation in light industry were among them. "We might as well cooperate in energy field, machine engineering and water management," the Russian president underscored.

Vladimir Putin thanked his Uzbek counterpart for the opportunity "to see the sights of the magnificent city of Samarkand" and recommended everyone, who had not yet seen it to do so.

Negotiations between Vladimir Putin and Islam Karimov lasted more than 3 hours.