Award ceremony for Presidents of Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan held in Tashkent

 In his remarks, Shavkat Miromonovich highlighted the strategic and allied nature of our relations. We have achieved this in a relatively short period of time. If we look at the chronology of my visits to Uzbekistan, the most intensive period has been the past four to five years. During this time, I have visited Uzbekistan for the seventh time, while Shavkat Miromonovich has visited Azerbaijan even more frequently during the same period.

 This is just statistics, but behind these figures lie, first and foremost, our common roots, the closeness of our peoples, cultures, languages and traditions, our sincere feelings toward one another, and the centuries-old friendship between the Uzbek and Azerbaijani peoples. This is the foundation. And, of course, what matters is how we build upon this foundation of our brotherhood, what projects we implement, and how we jointly participate in various initiatives aimed at strengthening our cooperation and developing our countries.
 Of course, having received this high award, I would like to highlight the special role of President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Miromonovich Mirziyoyev in strengthening our bilateral relations, his sincere attitude toward our people, and his assistance in the restoration of Garabagh. I spoke about this earlier today, and everyone in Azerbaijan knows that the first President and the first country in the world to help us in the restoration of Garabagh were President Mirziyoyev and Uzbekistan.

And, of course, every time I visit Uzbekistan, I visit different places and see how Tashkent is becoming more beautiful how its buildings, streets and infrastructure are being transformed, and how everything is being done with greater taste, care and quality. And, of course, the project of my dear brother, “New Tashkent,” is a unique achievement of modern urban development and the result of his vision for the future development of the capital of Uzbekistan.
Of course, it is also a symbol of Uzbekistan's development and strength. Not every country can afford to build cities from scratch. And if we also consider how Samarkand has been transformed — I remember it well from my first visit there, and then when we visited relatively recently — as well as the wonderful impression left by Khiva, which I visited during my previous trip. It is remarkable how carefully and appropriately the preservation of historical monuments and respect for historic architecture are combined with urban development and modernization. All of this is the result of Shavkat Miromonovich's purposeful efforts to strengthen Uzbekistan, increase its potential, and promote the growth of its economy and industry.

Today, we spoke extensively about joint projects in agriculture, industry, mining and energy. But this would have been impossible without the potential our countries have developed. Without this foundation, we could not be thinking about joint projects; we would only be thinking about how to improve things within our own countries. Today, however, we are focused on joint efforts and joint investments, and these joint investments will amount to billions of dollars. These are no longer plans; they are already concrete projects, concrete contracts and concrete investment initiatives. And, of course, as a friend and brother, I would like to congratulate esteemed Shavkat Miromonovich on all his achievements. We sincerely rejoice in them. And in recognition of his enormous contributions to strengthening our bilateral relations based on brotherhood and alliance, I have signed a decree awarding Shavkat Miromonovich Mirziyoyev Azerbaijan's highest state order — the Heydar Aliyev Order.
 President Ilham Aliyev presented the Heydar Aliyev Order to the President of Uzbekistan.