“People of Uzbekistan know your country, its history and the modern Brazil very well,” Islam Karimov said. “Brazil is an actively developing state, which is attracting the attention of the whole world community. We welcome your interest to the cities of Uzbekistan, in particular, to historical cities like Samarkand and Bukhara.”

The political consultations between the foreign ministries of the two states in August 2008 played an important role in expansion of ties between Uzbekistan and Brazil. Those talks showed the countries’ mutual interest in development of cooperation in political, economic, humanitarian and scientific spheres.

This year, the activities to develop bilateral relations have intensified. The ambassador of Brazil in Uzbekistan Carlos Antonio da Rocha Paranios in September held talks in a number of ministries and departments of the country.

Uzbekistan and Brazil closely cooperate in the framework of international organizations, in particular, the UNO. Brazil, which is a participant of the treaty to ban nuclear weapons in Latin America, supports Uzbekistan’s initiative to create the nuclear-weapon-free zone in Central. Brazil also highly values the efforts of Uzbekistan to strengthen regional security.

The volume of mutual trade turnover in 2007 made up almost US$65 million. In January-June 2008, this figure increased 2.4 times against the same period of last year.

Both countries have large resources for development of cooperation in the field of tourism. Establishment of friendly relations between the cities plays an important role in this.

While in Uzbekistan, the mayor of Rio de Janeiro visited Samarkand, where a document on partnership relations between the two cities was signed. Rio, one of the largest cities of Brazil and an important economic and cultural center, has similar relations with Istanbul, Jeddah, Saints Petersburg, Barcelona, Bogotá, Paris, Seoul and Sydney.

Cesar Maia said the Brazilian side highly valued the attention of the President of Uzbekistan to the development of the Uzbek-Brazilian relations and friendly ties of the Uzbek cities with Rio de Janeiro.