The ancient city of Uzbekistan Samarkand and the ancient capital of Japan Nara were declared sister cities. This was reported by the press service of the Japanese Embassy.

The agreement on establishing sister city relations was signed in Samarkand by the mayors of the cities, Fazliddin Umarov and Gen Nakagawa. The ceremony was also attended by Deputy Prime Minister - Minister of Tourism and Cultural Heritage Aziz Abdukhakimov, Khokim of Samarkand region Erkin Turdimov, Speaker of the Nara Parliament Kita Yoshiaki and Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Japan to Uzbekistan Fujiyama Yoshinori.

Notably, this marks the establishment of the first fraternal relations between the cities of Uzbekistan and the Land of the Rising Sun. The signing of the new agreement serves to deepen relations not only between Samarkand and Nara, but also between the two countries as a whole.

It is not by chance that mutual twinning has been established between the two ancient cities. After all, they have much in common. Both cities, which were capitals in their time, have a lot of historical monuments, most of them are included in the UNESCO World Heritage List. Both cities are the cradle of statehood and the center of tourism. The symbolic significance is that the eastern part of the Great Silk Road, passing through Samarkand, ended in the city of Nara.