Baku, Azerbaijan, April 17
By Fikret Dolukhanov – Trend:
Latvia and Uzbekistan discussed increasing the frequency of flights between the capitals of the two countries, as well as implementation of discounts on freight rates, including railway transit, the press service of the Ministry of Foreign Trade of Uzbekistan stated on April 17.
According to the information, the discussion took place within the framework of the meeting with the Latvian delegation headed by the chairman of the Latvian Saeima Inara Murnietse.
According to Murnietse, Latvia pays special attention to the development of transport and logistics cooperation with Uzbekistan. In this regard, the Latvian side offered to consider the issue of increasing the frequency of flights between the capitals of both countries.
“Latvia is an important partner of Uzbekistan, as it plays a key role in the republic's foreign trade due to its geographical location and developed transport infrastructure. The existing transport corridor with access to the ports of the Latvian cities of Riga and Liepaja has a significant potential for further increase in the volume of cargo transportation in both directions. The optimization of tariffs for the transit of goods through the transport systems of the two countries will allow significantly increasing the volumes of freight traffic across the territories of Uzbekistan and Latvia,” Minister of Foreign Trade of Uzbekistan Jamshid Khodzhaev stressed.
Both sides confirmed the necessity of working out the issues before the meeting of the bilateral Intergovernmental Commission (IGC) on economic, industrial and scientific-technical cooperation.
In addition to intergovernmental negotiations, the Latvian parliamentarians proposed to organize the Uzbek-Latvian Business Council, which will allow business circles of both countries to establish direct contacts.
During the meeting, the Latvian delegation noted readiness for the promotion of trade and economic interests of Uzbekistan in the Baltic region. In particular, the use of the North-Baltic Eight (NB-8) platform, where Latvia plays an active role, was proposed for discussing certain issues.
The Latvian side also announced plans to open a branch of the Higher School of Management of Information Systems in the “Tourism, Hotel and Restaurant Service” in Uzbek city of Fergana, as well as its interest in cooperation in the areas of e-government and green technologies, where they have considerable experience.
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