BAKU, Azerbaijan, July 29
By Ilkin Seyfaddini - Trend:
Uzbekistan and Turkey plan to increase mutual trade volume to $5 billion, Trend reports citing the Ministry of Investment and Foreign Trade of Uzbekistan.
The issue was discussed during the meeting of Deputy Prime Minister - Minister of Investment and Foreign Trade of Uzbekistan Sardor Umurzakov with Turkish Minister of Trade Ruhsar Pekcan, on July 28, 2020.
During the meeting, the sides discussed a constructive exchange of views on the current dynamics of trade relations, as well as the prospects for further increasing the volume of mutual trade.
The volume of trade turnover between Uzbekistan and Turkey in 2019 has made up $2.5 billion, showing a 22.7 percent growth compared to 2018, the message said.
The sides confirmed mutual aspiration to double the volume of mutual trade despite the impact of pandemic. In this context, the sides noted the priority to accelerate the process of coordinating the draft Agreement on Preferential Trade, which is currently being worked on by experts and specialists of relevant agencies of the two countries.
"Special attention has been paid to strengthening interaction in transport and logistics: in this context, it was noted that in January 2020 the railway administrations of Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Uzbekistan signed a protocol on introduction of tariff discounts for cargo transportation at the rate of 50 to 70 percent. During the meeting, the Turkish side was invited to consider the possible accession of the Turkish railway administration to the protocol," the message said.
Separately, sides reviewed the implementation of the action plan on economic cooperation between Uzbekistan and Turkey, signed as part of the high-level visit to Turkey in February 2020.
Following the meeting, the sides reached agreement on closer coordination of economic agencies of the two countries.
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