Uzbekistani prize winner salutes 'science diplomacy'

Uzbekistan will continue its scientific cooperation with China for the benefit of both peoples, an Uzbekistani scientist said on Monday.

Shavkat Salikhov made the comment on Monday after receiving the International Science and Technology Cooperation Award - China's highest scientific honor to foreign scientists who have contributed greatly to national scientific advancement.

Salikhov, the director of the Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry of the Academy of Sciences of Uzbekistan, is the first scientist from Central Asia to receive the honor. Last year, he was the first Uzbekistani scientist to be elected as a foreign academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.