RIYADH: Saudi Arabia, under Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman’s wise leadership, has witnessed an accelerated pace of economic growth with improved living standard of its people, says Uzbekistan Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Alisher Kadirov.

The envoy made his observation on Wednesday, on the occasion of his country’s 24th Independence Day that falls on Sept. 1. “Since the early years of independence, Uzbekistan has chosen its own path of development — the so-called Uzbek Model of transition — to socially-oriented market economy, based on five key principles developed by its President Islam Karimov,” Kadirov said.

They include the priority of economics over politics, the government as the principal reformer, the rule of law in all spheres of society, a vigorous social policy and the implementation of a phased transition to a market economy, he elaborated.

In his first interview with Arab News, he said Saudi Arabia, as an influential country in the Middle East and the Gulf Region, the largest energy producer in the world and a member of the G-20 has played a key role in maintaining regional peace and stability.

It has stimulated the regional economic development by enhancing Arab and Islamic countries’ solidarity, promoting dialogue among different religions and civilizations and safeguarding the stability of international energy supply.

He said over the past 23 years since the establishment of diplomatic relations between Uzbekistan and Saudi Arabia, the bilateral relations have experienced rapid development. “We have seen the deepening political trust, intensified high-level exchanges, upgrading economical cooperation and positive progress in the areas of culture, education and religion between the two countries.”

Uzbekistan and Saudi Arabia have become good partners and sincere friends with mutual trust and substantial cooperation.

“We are ready to further enlarge and deepen the mutually beneficial cooperation in various fields between our countries,” he said.

“We wish to make concerted efforts with our Saudi counterpart, consistently push forward the exchanges of visits on various levels, proactively enhance the cooperation in the areas of policy and economy, culture and religion, education and sports, and promote bilateral relations to a new phase,” he added.

According to him, “Independence Day... in many ways, it is also a personal attitude of a citizen who has gained an internal freedom. Today, he is free to go anywhere in the world, start his own business, freely express his views. It might seem as a usual stuff, but it was previously unavailable to ordinary citizens.”

He referred to the ongoing reforms in the social-political sphere. “The enormous creative work in all areas of social life in Uzbekistan is aimed at protecting human interest, ensuring family welfare, and bringing up children as decent members of the society,” the ambassador said.

“The declaration of 2015 as the Year of Care for the Senior Generation bears testimony to the attention lavished on everyone, all the people living next to us. The level of cultural development of any society is primarily determined by the true concern for the older generation. Manifestation of respect and esteem in Uzbekistan is an integral part of spiritual life,” he said.