Following a meeting with Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Uzbekistan, Abdulaziz Kamilov, on Tuesday, Iran’s Bijan Zanganeh stated that Uzbeks were after purchasing crude oil from Iran and a high-ranking oil delegation would conduct talks with Iranian counterparts.
“Given the restricted figure of crude output in Uzbekistan, the Central Asian country needs to import the strategic product,” he added.

Zanganeh however noted that method of oil exports to Uzbekistan had to be well analyzed; “they have no access to the sea and all exports need to be done via land or rail.”

He stressed that further negotiations would be carried out and urged the Uzbek side to investigate venues for oil imports from Iran. Iran’s petroleum minister later underlined that Iran was basically in favor of crude sales to Uzbekistan since it marked an appropriate measure for development and consolidation of relations between the two countries.

Having Tashkent as its capital, Uzbekistan is a Central Asian nation neighboring countries like Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan.

Uzbekistan’s national gas company, with an annual output of 60 to 70 billion cubic meters, remains the world’s 11th largest gas producer. The country also possesses substantial untouched oil and gas reserves.

The Uzbek FM, who landed in Tehran on Monday, has met and talked with top-ranking Iranian officials and his visit has been described as a seminal one by political analysts.

One expert believes that Abdulaziz Kamilov’s visit is important because Uzbekistan is situated in the heart of Central Asia, and holds strategic and geopolitical momentousness.

The visit of the high-ranking Uzbek official to Tehran has been also said to be in line with economic interests of the two countries.

/SR