Bokhtiyar Abdusadiq Irisov, counsellor at the Embassy of Uzbekistan in Cairo, said that his country is negotiating with EgyptAir and private Egyptian airlines to operate more flights between both countries, aiming at boosting tourist flows.

Irisov told Daily News Egypt that the embassy is exerting great efforts to help boost tourist numbers, adding, “on Tuesday evening, we hosted a meeting of Uzbek tourism companies and Egyptian airlines to discuss future cooperation and having more flights between both countries.”

The embassy’s meeting was attended by many companies, including EgyptAir, AMC Airlines, which is a private Egyptian company, and Uzbek Airways, Irisov noted.

Tourism exchange figures between the countries are modest since there are no regular direct flights between them. About 6,000 Uzbek tourists visited Egypt in 2017, noted Irisov, adding, “in the past, we had regular direct flights, but they were stopped because there are not many travellers, which affected the operation’s viability.”

Meanwhile, Uzbek Ambassador to Egypt Oybek Usmanov said at the meeting that the Uzbek companies that attended Tuesday’s gathering operate in the tourism and aviation fields, adding that the companies had an Egyptian sightseeing tour during their current visit to Egypt, according to media reports.

The ambassador noted that the embassy assigned a new counsellor to be responsible for the tourism department to help boost travel between both countries.