Red carpet, Guard of Honor, bread and salt: Vučić welcomes Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev PHOTO/VIDEO

The Uzbek delegation was welcomed outside the aircraft at around 4:30 p.m. with full state honors, including a red carpet, a guard of honor from the Serbian Armed Forces, as well as traditional bread and salt.

“It is a great pleasure to warmly welcome President Mirziyoyev to Belgrade, a great friend of Serbia, with bread and salt as a symbol of sincere Serbian hospitality and respect for our esteemed guest. President Mirziyoyev’s first official visit to Serbia is yet another confirmation of the increasingly strong ties between our countries, mutual respect, and our shared desire for even closer and more substantive cooperation in the years ahead,” Vučić said.

President Vučić will host his Uzbek counterpart during his two-day official visit.

Visit Program

According to the official program announced by the Office of Media Relations of the President of the Repubic of Serbia, the ceremonial welcome for President Mirziyoyev is scheduled for Tuesday, September 8, at 11 a.m. in front of the Palace of Serbia, followed by a one-on-one meeting between the two heads of state.

A meeting between the Serbian and Uzbek delegations is scheduled for 11:45 a.m., while a ceremony for the exchange of bilateral documents and the signing of a Joint Declaration on the Establishment of Strategic Partnership Relations is scheduled for 12:45 p.m.

After that, President Vučić will present President Mirziyoyev with the Order of the Republic of Serbia on a Grand Collar.

The official program will continue at 1:20 p.m. with the presentation of the future Tashkent Street in Belgrade, in the presence of the two leaders, followed by the Serbia-Uzbekistan Business Forum, scheduled for 1:30 p.m.

President Mirziyoyev’s visit

President Mirziyoyev’s visit comes at a time when relations between the two countries are entering a new phase of intensive, multifaceted partnership, the Embassy of Uzbekistan said ahead of the visit.

Diplomatic relations between Serbia and Uzbekistan were established on January 18, 1995, shortly after Serbia recognized Uzbekistan’s independence on December 31, 1991.

In recent years, particularly in 2025 and 2026, significant progress has been made in political dialogue based on mutual respect for sovereignty, territorial integrity and national interests.

A major milestone in bilateral relations was President Vučić’s official visit to Uzbekistan from October 28 to 30, 2025, when an Agreement on Establishing Partnership Relations between Tashkent and Belgrade was also signed.

That same year, Uzbekistan appointed its first ambassador to Serbia, while Serbian Ambassador Momčilo Babić presented his credentials in Tashkent in October 2025.

Intensive diplomatic activity continued in 2026 with Serbian Foreign Minister Marko Djurić’s visit to Uzbekistan in May, as well as the visit of Tanzila Narbayeva, Chairwoman of the Senate of Uzbekistan, to Belgrade in June.

In addition to political and parliamentary cooperation, the two countries are working to strengthen economic ties.

Trade between Serbia and Uzbekistan reached $42 million last year, while Serbian exports amounted to $26.4 million, representing a 53.7 percent increase compared with the previous year.

Opportunities for further cooperation have been identified in agriculture and the food industry, seed production, mechanical engineering and electrical engineering, the pharmaceutical and textile industries, construction, information technology, robotics, artificial intelligence, digitalization, innovation, new technologies, transport, logistics and tourism.

According to the Embassy of Uzbekistan, nine companies with Serbian capital are currently operating in the country, while Serbia is seen as a key foothold for expanding Uzbekistan’s economic ties with the Balkan region.

In the transport sector, talks have begun with the companies “Srbija Voz” and “Air Serbia,” while in the field of culture, a joint film project, “From Al-Khwarizmi to Tesla,” dedicated to the great scientists of the two nations, stands out.

Relations between Uzbekistan and Serbia are now viewed as an important bridge connecting Central Asia and Southeastern Europe.