Uzbekistan foreign minister Abdulaziz Khafizovich Kamilov on Monday met with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and Chief Executive Officer Abdullah Abdullah in Kabul where he discussed issues of mutual interest between the two nations with a special focus on major economic, regional and transit projects, Afghan-owned and Afghan-led peace process and the fight against terrorism.

In a statement issued by the Presidential Palace (ARG) Ghani and Kamilov also discussed the implementation of a railway project.

“Speaking about the completion of studies regarding railway and purchase of electrical equipment from Uzbekistan, President Ghani and the Uzbek foreign minister agreed that in coordination with delegations from the two countries, work must start on the projects the two countries previously agreed upon and on how to bolster Afghan and the Uzbek economies and the regional economy,” the statement read.

In return, Kamilov said that his country stands with the Afghan government regarding the Afghan-owned peace process in light of the Tashkent conference and Kabul Process conference.

Ghani thanked the Uzbek leadership for supporting the Afghan-led peace process.

Ghani also stressed the need for Afghanistan-Uzbekistan’s long-term cooperation agreement to be finalized as soon as possible.

Meanwhile, Abdullah’s office said in a statement that Afghanistan strongly values the expansion of trade relations between Afghanistan and Uzbekistan.

Abdullah said that Afghanistan and Uzbekistan are bound by an historic relationship and said that the two countries are ready to cooperate over strengthening ties and working for regional peace and stability.

Kamilov said that  peace in Afghanistan is in the interests of the entire region.

The two sides also exchanged views on the peace process, efforts by regional countries towards peace and on infrastructure development.

In December, Ghani and his Uzbek counterpart, Shavkat Mirziyoyev, signed a bilateral cooperation agreement in Tashkent based on which the two countries agreed to expand their bilateral, economic and transit relations.

Afghan and Uzbek officials also signed more than 20 agreements which include economic, transit, security, electricity, agriculture, health and higher education cooperation between the two countries.