October 13 this year a meeting was held at the Institute for Strategic and Regional Studies under the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan with a delegation of United Kingdom's Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, in particular, with the Humanitarian Advisor of Afghanistan and Pakistan Department, Rebecca Thompson, and the Conflict Advisor of the same department, Sally Faulkner. The Second Secretary for Regional Political Affairs of Afghanistan of the British Embassy in Tashkent Henrietta Alexander also took part in the negotiations.

The British side was informed about the ongoing reforms in Uzbekistan, foreign policy priorities, including the ongoing work to strengthen good neighborliness, ensure stability and sustainable development in Central Asia.

During the conversation, the sides also had a thorough exchange of views on the socio-economic situation in Afghanistan, discussed issues of providing humanitarian aid to the Afghan people and prospects of Uzbek-British interaction in this direction.

The British diplomats noted that they familiarized themselves with with the activities and potential of the Educational Center for Afghan citizens, the Termez Cargo Center international transport and logistics hub and the Termez-Hairatan checkpoint, as well as the construction of an international trade center on the border with Afghanistan.

Highly appreciating these infrastructure projects, experts emphasized that Uzbekistan today is making an important contribution to socio-economic restoration, mitigating the humanitarian situation in Afghanistan and is taking active steps to implement various infrastructure and social projects in this country and its involvement in regional economic ties.

Since September 2021, Tashkent has sent more than 8 shipments of humanitarian cargo to Kabul with a total weight of more than 10 thousand tons. The guests were informed about the initiatives of Uzbekistan to build the Termez-Mazar-i-Sharif-Kabul-Peshawar railway and the Surkhan-Puli-Khumri transmission line in Afghanistan.

At the same time, the measures taken by Tashkent to unite the efforts of the entire international community and to develop a common approach to the Afghan issue have been recognized.

At the end of the meeting, the parties noted the importance of consolidating international efforts in the Afghan direction. Representatives of United Kingdom's Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office expressed their readiness to cooperate with Uzbekistan in normalizing the situation in Afghanistan.