He visited Uzbekistan on the invitation of President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev, who is attaching the priority on deepening ties with neighboring countries.

Ashraf Ghani is leading a senior government delegation which included national security advisor Mohammad Hanif Atmar, foreign minister Salahudin Rabbani, finance minister Eklil Hakimi, chief of staff Abdul Salaam Rahimi, minister of labor, social affairs, martyrs and disabled Faizullah Zaki, special representative of the President in Central Asian Affairs Mohammad Shakir Kargar among others.

For the past year, Mirziyoyev has taken tremendous efforts to foster open, transparent and pragmatic interaction with leaders of Central Asian countries which have created a completely new atmosphere of cooperation in the region and contributed to intra-regional confidence building, officials said.

Mirziyoyev advocates strong support for the efforts of the Afghan people and the international community to establish enduring peace in Afghanistan.

In his speech at the 72nd Session of the UN General Assembly, Mirziyoyev stressed that the only way to peace in Afghanistan is a direct dialogue, without preconditions, between the central government and the main domestic political forces.

Negotiations should take place with the predominant role of the Afghans themselves on the territory of the country itself and under the auspices of the United Nations.

Uzbekistan’s special attention to further develop relations with Afghanistan is also supported by the fact that in May 2017, the Uzbekistan President has established a new post – a Special Representative of the President of Uzbekistan for Afghanistan.

Besides at the initiative of Shavkat Mirziyoyev, a "roadmap" was approved for further development of multifaceted cooperation between Uzbekistan and Afghanistan.

The Uzbek-Afghan intergovernmental and interdepartmental agreements, including "On Trade and Economic Cooperation", "On International Transport Routes", "On Cooperation in the Field of Transit and Transport" serve as a reliable foundation for this work.

The principled position of Uzbekistan in fostering long-term and mutually beneficial relations with Afghanistan serves the consistent development of bilateral cooperation in the interests of the two countries.