The Embassy of Uzbekistan, in collaboration with the Tourism Committee of Uzbekistan, hosted on Friday a unique, colourful ‘Uzbekistan Tourism Roadshow 2025.’
The event showcased Uzbekistan’s huge tourism, cultural, business and trade potential and thus attracted a large number of visitors including the Pakistani business community, tourism industry’s officials, private tour operators, travel agencies’ representatives, members of diplomatic community, students and small & medium business entrepreneurs.
They showed keen interest in the briefings by the Uzbek delegations and also visited various stalls where the Uzbek products were on display.
Uzbek Ambassador Alisher Tukhtaev in his welcome address introduced Mr Umid Shadiev, Chairman of the Tourism Committee of Uzbekistan who had come specially to attend the roadshow. He underscored the importance of strengthening tourism ties between the two countries.
“For many centuries, Uzbekistan and Pakistan were connected by culture, trade, and history,” he said adding the roadshow was thus a good chance to bring our nations even closer through tourism and people-to-people contacts. “Islamabad and the ancient cities of Uzbekistan share common history and culture. While Islamabad is a modern city, it still shows the influence of Islamic civilization – just like our historic cities Samarkand, Bukhara, and Khiva,” said the ambassador.
The bond between Uzbekistan and Pakistan goes back to the times of Amir Timur and Zahiriddin Babur, he said. We have shared values, religion, and traditions. Now it is our important duty to turn this strong connection into real opportunities for tourism and business.
The Uzbek ambassador welcomed the Pakistani investors to build hotels, run transport services, or organize cultural events in Uzbekistan. He called the roadshow marking a new beginning in tourism relations between Uzbekistan and Pakistan and invited all to work together. Let’s create joint travel packages, cultural events, and new innovative ideas for tourists.
Mr Umid Shadiev briefed the audience about the huge tourism opportunities and business potential that exist in Uzbekistan for the Pakistani tourists and investors. Managing Director of the Pakistan Tourism Development Corporation (PTDC) Aftabur Rehman Rana as Chief Guest.
More than 150 representatives of the tourism sector of Pakistan also participated in the roadshow reaffirming their commitment and trust that the tourism sector of Uzbekistan and Pakistan could achieve new heights and grow tremendously if both the governments and the private sectors worked in close coordination.
Ambassador of Turkmenistan to Pakistan and Dean of Diplomatic Corps, Atadjan Movlamov, Azerbaijan Ambassador Khazar Farhadov, Turkish ambassador Irfan Neziroğlu, Moroccan ambassador Mohamed Karmoune, Iran’s envoy Dr Reza Amiri Moghadam, Representative of the Turkish Republic of the Northern Cyprus, Ms Dilsad Senol, diplomats from the Central Asian and other countries attended the event on the special invitation of Ambassador Alisher Tukhtaev.
It is pertinent to mention here that the management of almost 70 travel companies and tour operators, airlines, local media, television and radio, as well as the employees of diplomatic missions of Central Asian countries were in attendance during the roadshow. On the occasion, the Uzbek delegation presented the tourism potential of their country to the participants of the event. The highlight of the roadshow was the spellbinding performance by the Uzbek dance performers and the traditional Uzbek pulao (Plov) along with other mouth-watering dishes that were served on the occasion.
