AKIPRESS.COM - President of China Xi Jinping and his Uzbekistan counterpart Islam Karimov agreed in Beijing on Tuesday to strengthen their bilateral strategic partnership featuring mutual benefits, common security and cooperation, People's Daily Online reports.

The two Presidents approved a development plan for China-Uzbekistan partnership for the next five years.

Xi called on both sides to expand trade and investment, and boost cooperation in such areas as energy, finance, agriculture and transport infrastructure building.

They agreed to give priority to building Line D of the China-Central Asia natural gas pipeline, and speed up a railway project linking China, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan.

They also agreed on cultural exchanges and cooperation in security and law enforcement.

Uzbekistan is committed to a closer partnership with China which meets fundamental interests of both countries and peoples and helps regional peace and development, Karimov said.

He appreciated China's policies in developing friendship and cooperation with Central Asian countries, vowing to back China's proposals on the Silk Road economic belt and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank.

The two Presidents reached consensus to strengthen coordination in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and promote more substantial results in SCO economic and security cooperation.

Islam Karimov is on a two-day state visit to China from Tuesday to Wednesday. It is his second China trip this year following his visit to Shanghai for the 2014 Summit of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia.