On June 14, 2004, after the successful conclusion of his state visit to Romania, President Hu Jintao arrived in Tashkent from Bucuresti for a state visit to Uzbekistan and to attend the Summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).

On the evening of the same day, the people, who were going to welcome President Hu, lined up to wait for his arrival at the Tashkent International Airport, with the national flags of China and Uzbekistan waving in the wind. At about 20:50 local time, Hu Jintao and his wife Liu Yongqing walked out of the plane and were greeted with the warm welcome from Uzbekistan's President Islam Karimov and his wife. Director of Chinese State Development and Reform Commission Ma Kai, who had arrived earlier, and Chinese Ambassador to the Republic of Uzbekistan Gao Yusheng also went to the airport to meet the president.

In his written speech delivered at the airport, Hu Jintao pointed out that China and Uzbekistan are friendly and close neighbors, and the two peoples have maintained deep traditional friendship. Since the establishment of diplomatic ties 12 years ago, with mutual respect and sincere help for each other, the friendly and cooperative relations between China and Uzbekistan have enjoyed sound and stable development. The friendly exchanges and mutually beneficial cooperation between the two sides have been expanding in areas such as politics, economy, trade, transportation, education, culture, science and technology, and bilateral cooperation in regional and international affairs has been increasingly strengthened. China would like to work with Uzbekistan to continuously promote the friendly and cooperative relations between the two countries to a new level.

Hu Jintao noted that during his visit he would hold talks with Uzbekistan's President Islam Karimov and meet with Speaker of Parliament Erkin Khamdamovich Khalilov and some other leaders. The two sides will review the process of friendly cooperation since the establishment of China-Uzbekistan diplomatic ties, plan the orientation for development of bilateral relations and priority areas for cooperation, and exchange views on regional situations and significant international issues. Hu Jintao expressed his belief that this visit would promote greater development of China-Uzbekistan friendly cooperative relations. Chinese State Councillor Tang Jiaxuan and some other officials, who accompanied President Hu, arrived aboard the same plane.

On June 17, Hu Jintao will attend the Tashkent Summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). This is the SCO's first summit since the organization entered the new stage for development. Therefore, this summit is of great significance to the definition of the organization's orientation for future development, planning of pragmatic cooperation and promotion of a greater role of the SCO in regional and international affairs.

Uzbekistan is the last leg for Hu Jintao's tour to the four European and Asian countries. Prior to this country, he has visited Poland, Hungary and Romania.