Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan discussed the issues of preparing cartographic materials and conducting field work on certain sections of the common state border.
According to the Uzbek Foreign Ministry, a regular meeting of the working groups of the joint demarcation commission was held in Bukhara. "The meeting took place in an atmosphere of friendship and mutual understanding. Following the event, a corresponding Protocol was signed".
Negotiations on the legal formalisation of the 1,650km Turkmen-Uzbek border began after Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev's state visit to Turkmenistan on 6-7 March 2017.
Since then, specialists from both countries have been carrying out aerial mapping and topographic-geodetic work on certain sections of the common border. Both sides of the border are home to significant diasporas of ethnic Uzbeks in Turkmenistan (around 300,000) and Turkmens in Uzbekistan (around 200,000).
Ashgabat and Tashkent have agreed to establish a border trade zone covering the contiguous territory of the two countries - on the border of Turkmenistan's Dashoguz region and Uzbekistan's Khorezm region.
A similar joint project on the border of Turkmenistan's Lebap region and Uzbekistan's Bukhara region is being studied.
Eziz Boyarov
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