Mr Putin congratulated Mr Karimov on his 65th birthday. The Presidents discussed the results of a recent informal meeting of CIS leaders in Kiev.
Prior to their conversation, Alexander Voloshin, Chief of Staff of the Presidential Executive Office, who was on a visit to Tashkent, handed a letter from the Russian President to Mr Karimov.
The letter said, in part:
“Russia highly praises your huge personal contribution to the establishment and progress of long-standing friendly and mutually beneficial Russian-Uzbek relations. I am happy to note that the accumulated positive and multi-faceted potential of our partnership lays a good groundwork for stepping up bilateral cooperation based on the principals of good-neighbourly relations, equality and mutual respect.”