MOSCOW, January 30 (RIA Novosti) - Vladimir Putin has congratulated Uzbek President Islam Karimov on his birthday and praised his contribution to bilateral cooperation, the Kremlin press service said Monday.
"Joint activities within regional integration structures open broad horizons," Putin said in his message to Karimov, who is 58 today. "I am convinced that the strategic partnership and allied relations between Russia and Uzbekistan will improve further."
Recent developments have highlighted positive trends in Russian-Uzbek cooperation in various fields. The Central Asian republic joined the Eurasian Economic Community (Eurasec), an economic club of former Soviet republics formed in 2000, and signed several preliminary agreements with Russia's state-owned energy giant Gazprom on the development of Uzbekistan's oil and natural gas deposits at a summit in St. Petersburg last week.
Uzbekistan's accession to Eurasec was widely seen as a logical move, since it should contribute to security and stability in the Central Asian region, while removing some problems related to economic integration within the Commonwealth of Independent States. Uzbekistan is also a member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization along with Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan.
