The 22nd meeting of the intergovernmental commission on economic cooperation between Uzbekistan and Russia took place in Moscow on Wednesday, the press service of the Ministry of Investment and Foreign Trade reported.
The meeting was co-chaired by the Uzbek Deputy PM/Minister of Investments and Foreign Trade Sardor Umurzakov and the Minister of Economic Development of Russia Maxim Reshetnikov.
The meeting highlighted significant progress achieved in the economic partnership of the two countries with the number of Russian-invested enterprises in Uzbekistan in 9 months was 200.
Currently, more than 150 joint projects worth over US$ 14 billion are being implemented in Uzbekistan in the fields of petrochemistry, mining metallurgy, energy, healthcare and pharmaceuticals, production of building materials, textile products, and processing of fruits and vegetables.
It was highlighted that the joint Uzbek-Russian project office, whose function is to generate investment proposals and form new projects for implementation, is working on a new portfolio of more than 180 projects worth about US$ 9 billion.
The sides underscored at the meeting that the Agroexpress project for the swift delivery of agricultural products in refrigerated trains could become the driver of the development of Uzbek-Russian trade. It is planned that the first pilot supply of fresh fruits and vegetables from Uzbekistan will take place in mid-November. “Our common task is to deliver 1 million tons of products to our countries by 2030 by rail,” said Maxim Reshetnikov.
Over the past two months, delegations of the heads of 7 provinces of Uzbekistan visited 20 provinces of Russia, where they held substantive negotiations on the prospects for cooperation. It was agreed that in order to further expand interprovincial ties, in the near future, mutual trips of the leaders of the provinces of Uzbekistan and Russia will be additionally organized to prepare new projects of industrial cooperation and ink trade contracts.
Special attention was also paid to cultural and humanitarian cooperation, in particular, interaction in the field of education. Currently, there are already 15 branches of Russian universities operating in Uzbekistan. On October 1, a branch of Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography opened in Tashkent. In the near future, it is expected to open branches of two more universities - the Kosygin University of Design and Technology and the Moscow State University of Geodesy and Cartography.
At the meeting, the parties outlined prospects for deepening cooperation in the fields of energy, pharmaceuticals and mechanical engineering. The Russian companies will take an active part in the modernization of enterprises of the mining and metallurgical industry in Uzbekistan and the implementation of joint projects in the fields of mechanical engineering and machine tool construction.
In addition, it is planned to consistently increase the production of cars and agricultural machinery using Russian technologies at the production facilities in Uzbekistan. The possibilities for drawing Russian investments for the modernization of energy generating capacities in Uzbekistan and the implementation of projects in the field of alternative energy were considered.
The parties agreed to step up work of all nine subcommissions of the Intergovernmental Commission, and also agreed on the issue of creating two new subcommissions on innovation and digital technologies and in the field of labor migration.
