On February 18, 2023, the Embassy of the Republic of Uzbekistan in Cairo, in cooperation with the Egyptian Council for Foreign Affairs, organized a round-table discussion entitled “Egypt and Uzbekistan… Joint Cooperation Prospects,” at the St. Regis Hotel, on the sidelines of the visit of President of the Republic of Uzbekistan, Shavkat Mirziyoyev, to Egypt, which marks the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries. A number of Uzbek think tanks participated in the meeting: the Institute of Strategic Studies and the Center for Economic Studies, under the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan, and the Institute of International Relations under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Uzbekistan, and the International Institute for Central Asian Studies.

The meeting was opened by Ambassador Mohamed El-Oraby, ECFA Chairman, and Ambassador Mansurbek Kilichev, Ambassador of the Republic of Uzbekistan in Cairo. The main session, which was moderated by Ambassador Dr. Ezzat Saad, ECFA Director, was attended by the following participants:

• Bobur Usmanov, Deputy Director of the Institute of Strategic Studies under the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan.

• Ahmed Al-moslemany, President of the Cairo Center for Strategic Studies.

• Obid Hakimov, Director of the Center for Economic Studies under the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan.

• Counselor Hamdy Abu El-Enein, Undersecretary of the Egyptian Chamber of Commerce.

• Daniyar Kurbanov, Director of the Institute of International Relations under the Uzbek Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

• Major General Hamdy Labib, Vice President of the Dialogue Foundation.

• Sherzod Fayziyev, Director of the Afghanistan and Iran Unit at the Institute for Central Asian Studies.

• Professor Dr. Ahmed Ragab Rizk – Dean of the Faculty of Archeology at Cairo University.

The speakers discussed Egypt-Uzbek relations from their political, economic and cultural aspects and bilateral cooperation in the field of combating terrorism, extremism and organized crime. ECFA Chairman affirmed that Egypt and Uzbekistan have strong and distinguished historical and cultural relations, which have witnessed, over the recent years, a strong impetus and a mutual keenness to enhance cooperation in a number of common files, most notably the economic and investment file. He referred to the important visit held by President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi to Uzbekistan in 2018, which strengthened the path of relations between the two countries and generated a major breakthrough in various fields and at all levels. He also highlighted the convergence of political visions between the two countries’ leaders, especially since both leaders attach a high priority to the fields of sustainable development.

On his part, ECFA Director indicated that the two countries do not lack contractual frameworks to advance their bilateral relations towards broader horizons, as there is a joint commission for economic, scientific and technical cooperation established since 1996 and a regular mechanism for political consultation between their two Foreign Ministries. This is in addition to two Egyptian-Uzbek friendship associations; One in Cairo, and the other in Alexandria.