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President Shavkat Mirziyoyev met Khalilur Rahman, President of the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly and Bangladesh’s Foreign Minister, on Wednesday to discuss deepening Uzbekistan’s engagement with the UN and broadening bilateral ties with Dhaka.
Rahman arrived in Uzbekistan to attend the World Summit on Investing in Children’s Wellbeing: A Path to Sustainable and Equitable Development for Future Generations, a two-day conference scheduled to open in Samarkand on 21 October.
At the outset of the meeting, Mirziyoyev congratulated Rahman on his election to lead the General Assembly and noted that Uzbekistan was the first country Rahman had visited in that capacity — a distinction the Uzbek side appeared to regard as diplomatically significant. Rahman, for his part, conveyed greetings from UN Secretary-General António Guterres to the Uzbek president.
Uzbekistan’s UN record and Security Council ambitions
The talks covered the full breadth of Uzbekistan’s relationship with the United Nations. Tashkent has initiated 15 resolutions adopted by the General Assembly in recent years, including two passed in 2026, and participates actively in the work of the organisation’s principal bodies. The country has also formally nominated itself for a non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council for the 2035–2036 term.
Both sides expressed interest in advancing cooperation on the Sustainable Development Goals, promoting regional integration in Central Asia, tackling the consequences of climate change, and reinforcing what the joint readout described as a culture of peace and interfaith dialogue — themes that have featured prominently in Uzbekistan’s multilateral diplomacy under Mirziyoyev.
Bilateral dimension with Bangladesh
The meeting also addressed the state of Uzbek-Bangladeshi relations. Both sides said they were ready to expand what they characterised as a multifaceted partnership, describing Bangladesh as one of South Asia’s rapidly developing countries. No specific agreements or memoranda were announced.
The Samarkand summit, which brought Rahman to the region, focuses on mobilising investment in children’s welfare as a driver of sustainable and equitable development — an agenda that aligns with several of the SDG commitments both countries referenced during the talks.