BAKU, Azerbaijan, June 24
By Ilkin Seyfaddini - Trend:
Ministry of Investments and Foreign Trade of Uzbekistan discussed directions of expanding bilateral trade with Ministry of Industry and Trade of Russia, and Russian Ministry of Economic Development, Trend reports citing the Ministry of Investments and Foreign Trade of Uzbekistan.
Deputy Prime Minister of Uzbekistan Sardor Umurzakov, during his working visit to Moscow, held a number of bilateral meetings with Deputy Prime Minister of Russia Alexei Overchuk, Minister of Industry and Trade of Russia Denis Manturov and Minister of Economic Development of Russia Maxim Reshetnikov, June 23, 2020.
Relevant directions of deepening bilateral trade and economic, investment and transport and logistics cooperation were discussed during the meeting.
It has been noted that Russia is one of the largest investors in Uzbekistan's economy, preserving the steadily growing dynamics of increasing the number of enterprises with Russian capital in the country for a long period.
Sides reached an agreement to accelerate the coordination of projects under consideration in industrial cooperation with the identification of specific initiators and terms of implementation.
The issues of holding the 21st session of the Intergovernmental Commission on Bilateral Cooperation were discussed. The aim of joint work in this direction will be to form and prepare for signing a package of firm mutually beneficial investment and trade agreements.
Special attention has been paid to developing and implementing practical measures to expand trade and economic cooperation, with a view to boosting mutual trade turnover by increasing the supply of Russian and Uzbek products to the markets of the two countries.
Russian side stressed that the active joint work of profile ministries and agencies of both countries in consolidating the positive trends in trade, will enable to bring the volume of trade turnover to $10 billion in the near future.
The sides also discussed opportunities for practical cooperation in modernizing the system of testing and metrology laboratories in Uzbekistan, as well as opening in Uzbekistan accredited subdivisions of Russian laboratories of quality control of agricultural products to increase the volumes of supply of products from Uzbekistan to Russia.
Following the talks, the format and order of systemic cooperation between the Ministry of Investment and Foreign Trade of Uzbekistan, Ministry of Industry and Trade of Russia and Ministry of Economic Development of Russia have been defined.
In 2019, $1.3 billion of Russian investments (including direct investments of $650 million) were utilized in Uzbekistan, and following the results of the first quarter of 2020 more than $329 million. In general, the volume of Russian investment is expected to reach $1.5 billion at the end of 2020.
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