The second day of the visit in Beijing started with an official meeting ceremony at the Palace of Chinese National People’s Congress, followed by talks between the two countries’ delegations led by Islam Karimov and Hu Jintao.

The leaders of the two nations discussed the prospects of enhancing bilateral and multilateral cooperation and exchanged views on current issues of regional and international nature.

Then the heads of state signed the Joint Declaration on the Establishment of Strategic Partnership between the Republic of Uzbekistan and the People’s Republic of China. Furthermore, the officials penned intergovernmental agreements on technical and economic cooperation, on partnership in veterinary medicine, on quarantine and protection of flora, a 2012-2015 cooperation program between the ministries of foreign affairs, and other documents.

The President of Uzbekistan held meetings with Premier of the PRC State Council Wen Jiabao and Vice Premier Li Keqiang.

On the second half of the day in Beijing, the Council of the Heads of State of Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) started its twelfth session. The leaders of Uzbekistan, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan convened for a meeting in contracted format, where they discussed the ways to augment the effectiveness of joint efforts in addressing the pressing issues faced by the Organization.

The SCO summit is to continue on 7 June.