Kathmandu, January 27

Nepal and Uzbekistan established formal diplomatic relations today.

With this, the number of countries with which Nepal has diplomatic ties has reached 158.

The permanent representatives of Nepal and Uzbekistan to the United Nations, ambassadors Durga Prasad Bhattarai and Bakhtiyor Ibragimov respectively signed a joint communiqué to this effect in New York yesterday together with a joint letter informing the United Nations Secretary-General about the development, stated a press release circulated by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

On the occasion, the two ambassadors acknowledged that Nepal and Uzbekistan were already working closely at the UN and other multilateral forums, including as fellow members of the Group of Landlocked Developing Countries as well as the Non-Aligned Movement. They also shared views on further widening and deepening bilateral cooperation between the two countries in the days ahead.

A double-landlocked country of about 32 million people, Uzbekistan is known for having the world’s fourth largest gold deposits as well as rich oil and gas reserves.

It is the largest electricity producer and a major cotton producer in the region. It possesses diverse cultural heritages with cities like Bukhara and Samarkand that flourished from old Silk Road trade.

A former Soviet Republic, Uzbekistan joined the UN on March 2, 1992 and is today a secular, unitary constitutional republic.