Vice Prez Hamid Ansari meets Uzbek President in Tashkent

Vice President Hamid Ansari, who is on a four-day visit to Uzbekistan on Wednesday interacted with Uzbek President Islam Karimov in Tashkent. The talks focused on the future of Afghanistan after the withdrawal of NATO forces next year and cooperation in counter-terrorism. In the morning, Vice President paid floral tributes at Lal bahadur shastri memorial in Tashkent. Yesterday while interacting with media persons on board his special aircraft Dr Ansari termed Uzbekistan as an important country from the point of view of regional security, especially in the context of the pullout of US troops from Afghanistan. He said India enjoys strategic relations with Uzbekistan and his visit is aimed at further strengthening bilateral ties. Ansari on a four-day official visit to Uzbekistan Vice president Hamid Ansari on Tuesday arrived in Taskhkent on his 4 day official visit to Uzbekistan. He is accompanied by Environment minister Jayanthi Natrajan and four members of parliament. He was received by chairman of the senate Oily majlis and Deputy foreign Minister Akmal Kamalov. Briefing the media on board the special aircraft , Hamid Ansari termed Uzbekistan as important country from the aspect of regional security , especially in the context of the pullout of US troops from Afghanistan. He further said that India enjoys strategic relations with Uzbekistan and his visit is to continue and further strengthen the bilateral ties. He said that Uzbekistan and India share common strategic concerns like terrorism in the region and his visit is to help build a partnership with Uzbekistan to counter this challenges. When asked about India’s role in Afghanistan after the pullout of US troops in 2014, the Vice president said that India does not harbour any hegemonic intentions and is only interested in the stability and development of Afghanistan. He said that India always had a people centric approach toward Afghanistan and will continue to do so