TASHKENT, Uzbekistan, February 20. Uzbekistan and Türkiye attracted $1.2 billion in direct investments in 2023, and more than 300 new enterprises were created with the participation of state-owned companies, Trend reports.
This was announced at a meeting where the Uzbek Senate Committee on International Relations, Foreign Economic Relations, Foreign Investments and Tourism heard reports of Uzbekistan's ambassadors to Türkiye and Azerbaijan on February 19.
The meeting was attended by senators, deputies of local councils of people's deputies, heads of specialized ministries and departments, state companies, representatives of local executive authorities and mass media.
The hearings have been organized within the framework of establishing parliamentary control over the implementation of tasks and instructions formed on the basis of in-depth analysis during the video conference call held under the chairmanship of Uzbekistan's president on January 18 this year.
At the same time, the senators expressed concern about the fact that there has been a downward trend in exports of products manufactured in Uzbekistan to Türkiye over the past 2 years. In addition, they noted persisting non-tariff barriers in bilateral trade.
The sides noted that out of 48 investment projects worth $613.4 million with Türkiye, 6 investment projects worth $20.5 million are lagging behind the deadlines for various reasons. Also, due to inaction of a number of ministries and departments, as well as poor quality of projects, 11 of them worth $342 million are not realized. The Ministry of Health, Uzeltexsanoat (Uzbek electrotechnical industry), authorities of Navoi and Namangan regions were responsible for the implementation of these projects.
Meanwhile, Uzbekistan and Türkiye stated in January their intention to raise trade turnover to $5 billion. As of now, nearly 1,800 Turkish-invested companies are operating successfully in Uzbekistan.
The latest data shows that, during the first four months of 2023, the bilateral trade between the two countries reached little over $1 billion.