Every time I come to Uzbekistan, I discover for myself just how close our languages are. With a little effort, one could easily claim that they are speaking in their own homeland.

Axar.az reports that Assistant to the President of Azerbaijan and Head of the Foreign Policy Affairs Department of the Presidential Administration Hikmet Hajiyev said this in an interview with journalists in Tashkent.

According to him, Uzbek and Azerbaijani officials try to communicate with each other using a combination of the Azerbaijani and Uzbek languages:

“To some extent, this works. In some cases, when there are specific terminology-related issues, we also speak Russian. But we mostly try to give preference to Uzbek and Azerbaijani. It is easier to understand written texts, and spoken language becomes easier to comprehend the more we hear the pronunciation. So, it takes a little practice.”