Speaking ahead of an annual meeting of the Chinese-led Shanghai Cooperation Organization meeting in Tashkent, Chinese President Hu Jintao and Uzbek President Islam Karimov pledged closer ties, particularly on nuclear fuel.

"One of the question we discussed was that of long-term and stable cooperation in the field of ... uranium. It's necessary to work in such a way to develop natural uranium and uranium fields," Hu told reporters.

Although the leaders said they had signed a number of agreements regarding the purchase of energy from Uzbekistan, including uranium and natural gas, they declined to provide specifics details on the deals.

Karimov, who has led his isolated Central Asian state for nearly two decades since the collapse of the Soviet Union, pledged support for China's territorial integrity, specifically in Tibet and Taiwan.

Uzbekistan, a majority-Muslim country bordering Afghanistan, has struggled with an Islamist insurgency, and Karimov pledged to help China combat the spread of instability to its nearby Western border.

"Uzbekistan strongly and unchangingly supports the well-balanced course of the Chinese leadership regarding a unified country, specifically on the questions of Taiwan and Tibet," Karimov said.

China has been increasingly active in ex-Soviet Central Asia in recent years, moving to secure access to the region's vast natural resources for its energy-starved industries.

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