President of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov had a telephone conversation with his Kyrgyz counterpart Kurmanbek Bakiyev ON Tuesday, 10 July.

The presidents discussed deepening bilateral cooperation, the agenda of a Bishkek summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization [scheduled for August 2007] and large regional projects.

They particularly discussed a railway project between China, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, which has been under discussion for many years.

Uzbek President Islam Karimov expressed support for the project and said that the project would give access to the countries of Central Asia to sea ports when it was carried out.