MOSCOW, January 30 (RIA Novosti) - Vladimir Putin sent a message of birthday congratulations to Uzbek President Islam Karimov on Friday.
The Russian president's message says in particular: "You are known in Russia as a consistent supporter of friendship and mutually advantageous cooperation between our countries and Russian-Uzbek strategic partnership." "I am convinced that further expansion of interaction between Russia and Uzbekistan will help solve large-scale socio-economic tasks in the interests of our peoples' welfare, stability and security in Central Asia." Islam Karimov turns 66 on January 30th.
