The head of our state, welcoming the guest, noted with deep satisfaction the dynamic and fruitful cooperation with the specialized UN institute in the sphere of tourism. 

Uzbekistan joined the World Tourism Organization in 1993, since 2004, its Regional office for the Great Silk Road is operating in Samarkand. During the years of partnership, dozens of significant joint projects aimed at revealing the rich tourism potential of Uzbekistan, as well as its promotion in the global tourism market have been implemented. 

In October 2014, the 99th session of the Executive Council of the Organization was successfully held in Uzbekistan, during which the Agreement on further expansion of cooperation in the sphere of tourism and development of the “The Great Silk Road” brand was adopted. 

At the meeting, perspective directions of further expansion of practical cooperation in the sphere of tourism were discussed. 

The main attention was paid to issues of implementation of coordinated measures on popularizing the tourism destination in Uzbekistan and the Central Asian region, development of new types of tourism and popular tourism products, creation of modern infrastructure that meets international standards. 

Taleb Rifai expressed sincere gratitude to the President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev for the warm welcome and highly appreciated the ongoing reforms on development of tourism as a strategic branch of the state economy in our country. 

He emphasized that the World Tourism Organization intends to actively support and participate in programs and projects on development of tourism in Uzbekistan.