"Education is big business now. We have held three educational fairs in Uzbekistan where we succeeded in generating the interest of the middle-class to send their children to study in Malaysia," he said.

Abdul Aziz said that compared to studying in the United Kingdom, Europe and the United States, Malaysia was much cheaper, Bernama reported.

"Uzbeks can also come to Malaysia for a double degree or masters in private institutions or government universities," he told Bernama in an interview here recently.

He said that although there were many other areas where Malaysians could explore, education was top of the list.

Another lucrative area was tourism, which was further boosted with Uzbekistan Airways direct flights from Tashkent to Kuala Lumpur and vice-versa, twice a week, he said.

Abdul Aziz said that during winter, those wanting to travel to Kuala Lumpur from Tashkent had to book their tickets three months in advance.

This is because the flights, not only catered for Uzbeks but also those from Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Ukraine and Russia who transited in Tashkent to take connecting flights to Kuala Lumpur for a holiday, he explained.

Abdul Aziz said that currently, there were some 1,000 Uzbek tourists in Malaysia and they spent two or three weeks.

"If they stay for three weeks, the majority will spend two weeks in Langkawi and one week in Kuala Lumpur," he said, adding that most of the time, Uzbeks would travel with their extended families.

The ambassador said that medical tourism was also another area which could be exploited due to the absence of private hospitals in Uzbekistan.

"There are no private hospitals in Uzbekistan and for those wanting treatment from private hospitals, instead of government hospitals, we encourage them to come to Malaysia where the price is one third of the cost in Europe. They can spend three weeks for medical check-up and other things," he added.

As for bilateral relations, Abdul Aziz said it had been and would continue to strengthen, judging from the various high-level exchange visits between the two countries.

He said that relations became very close when former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad visited Uzbekistan in 1993, a year after Malaysia commenced diplomatic relations with Uzbekistan, while another former prime minister, Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, visited Uzbekistan in 2008.

In 2003, the then-Yang di Pertuan Agong Tuanku Syed Sirajuddin Syed Jamalullail visited Uzbekistan and in 2005, Uzbekistan President Islam Karimov made a state visit to Malaysia on the invitation of Tuanku Syed Sirajuddin, his second visit to the country.