Uzbek Foreign Minister Sadyk Safaev will represent Uzbekistan at the inauguration ceremony of the President of Afghanistan Khamid Karzai, scheduled for Tuesday.

Safaev, who will visit Afghanistan in accordance with instruction of the President of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov, will also hold negotiations with the country?s new leadership after the ceremony.

Ilkham Zakirov, press secretary of the Uzbek Foreign Ministry, said: ?Settlement of situation in Afghanistan and assistance to rehabilitation of economy of this country is a priority direction of foreign economic policy of Uzbekistan.?

He noted that official Tashkent had always tried to draw the attention of the international community to the situation in Afghanistan and this was the reason why Uzbekistan had become one of the first countries that supported international antiterrorism campaign in this country.

Currently, different ministries and departments of Uzbekistan are participating in projects directed at rehabilitation of the Afghan economy, he said.

The Foreign Ministry spokesman said Uzbekistan was ready to enhance its economic presence on the Afghan land. ?Uzbekistan is actively participating in rehabilitation of roads and bridges, as well as delivery of humanitarian cargo,? Zakirov said.

The Uzbek delegation will exchange opinions with Afghan leadership on bilateral and multilateral cooperation, participation of Uzbekistan in reconstruction of Afghanistan?s economy and infrastructure.

Stirring up efforts of participants of the trilateral agreement on creation of Trans-Afghan corridor will be one of the main issues of discussion.

President of Afghanistan Hamid Karzai, President of Iran Mohammad Khatami and President of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov signed the agreement on creation of the Trans-Afghan corridor in Tehran on 18 June 2003.

The route will allow landlocked Uzbekistan, as well as other Central Asian nations, to access seaports of Iran and further Europe. The corridor will be laid from Termez to Herat and Mazar-e Sharif to Iran.

The new corridor is 1,000 km shorter from all existing transport routes. It will allow the Central Asian states to access Persian Gulf, Oman Sea and Europe via Turkey.

?Implementation of this project will, undoubtedly, have a positive effect on acceleration of trade-economic relations between the countries of the region, and assist strengthening peace and stability in Afghanistan, as well as its integration in the regional economic structures,? the Foreign Ministry spokesman said.