Türkiye and Uzbekistan signed five agreements in Ankara on Thursday, including a social security agreement, after President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan held talks with Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev at the Presidential Complex, Anadolu Agency (AA) and NTV reported.
According to NTV, which cited the Presidential Communications Directorate, the two leaders discussed bilateral relations as well as regional and global issues before attending a signing ceremony. The talks came as Ankara prepares to host the 13th summit of the Organization of Turkic States (OTS, known in Turkish as TDT) on Friday.
Trade and social security
Trade Minister Ömer Bolat and Uzbek Foreign Minister Bakhtiyor Saidov signed an additional protocol amending a 29 March 2022 protocol on the advance exchange of information on vehicles and goods crossing the two countries’ borders, AA and NTV reported. Bolat and Uzbekistan’s Minister of Investment, Industry and Trade Laziz Kudratov signed a protocol amending the Türkiye-Uzbekistan Preferential Trade Agreement.
Labour and Social Security Minister Vedat Işıkhan and Saidov signed a social security agreement between the two governments, together with an administrative arrangement on implementing it. Erdoğan and Mirziyoyev themselves signed an agreement establishing a High-Level Council for Supporting Business.
Neither report described the content of the social security agreement or said when the documents would enter into force.
Erdoğan on the OTS summit
NTV said Erdoğan told Mirziyoyev that Türkiye and Uzbekistan would keep taking steps to deepen their high-level strategic partnership in areas including trade, investment, mining, transport and the defence industry. He also said he believed the OTS would grow stronger through new cooperation and that he hoped Friday’s leaders’ summit in Ankara would be an important milestone, according to NTV.
Erdoğan also invited Mirziyoyev to the COP31 leaders’ summit in Antalya, NTV reported.
Azerbaijan will be represented at the summit by its foreign minister, as set out in our report on Aliyev skipping the OTS summit.
Sources
- Türkiye ile Özbekistan arasında 5 anlaşma imzalandı (AA via Son Dakika)
- Cumhurbaşkanı Erdoğan, Özbekistan Cumhurbaşkanı Mirziyoyev ile görüştü. 5 anlaşma imzalandı (NTV)
Photo: Shuhrataxmedov / CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
