The Uzbekistan government delegation led by Deputy PM Elyor Ganiev on April 16-17 visited the United States on a working visit, the Foreign Ministry.

Deputy Prime Minister met with U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross. As noted during the talks, the volume of trade between Uzbekistan and the United States over the past year has almost doubled, the number of joint ventures is increasing.

The parties also reportedly discussed preparations for a number of important joint events, in particular, a business forum in Navoi on May 16-17, the first Certified Trade Mission of the U.S. Department of Commerce to Uzbekistan between June 18-20 and the annual Uzbek American Business Forum in Washington, October 21-22.

"The sides exchanged views on the prospects for cooperation as part of technical assistance programs of the Ministry of Agriculture and the U.S. Treasury and the measures aimed at expanding cooperation in the use of financial instruments and soft loans from Eximbank and OPIC, and the newly created Financial Corporation of International Development of the U.S.A," - the statement added.

The sides touched upon the steps taken by the Government of Uzbekistan to protect intellectual property rights and noted that the ratification of the Geneva Phonograms Convention of 1971 and the Internet Treaties of the World Intellectual Property Organization, together with achievements in the fight against child and forced labor facilitate the maintaining the status of the beneficiary country of the General Preference System, involving the possibility of duty-free trade with the United States.

The delegation also met with the Deputy Assistant to the President, Senior Director for South and Central Asia at the National Security Council  Lisa Curtis, the Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Alice Wells, as well as a special adviser to the Vice President for South and Central Asia Michael Catron and  exchanged views on the prospects of the Uzbek-American ties in the political, trade, investment and cultural-humanitarian areas.

The important international and regional and security issues were discussed, with the U.S. officials reportedly noting the enhanced the financial and technical assistance provided to Uzbekistan in the framework of various U.S. government programs.

The possibility of attracting consultants to help develop proposals for the development of fiscal policies, public debt management and investment, improving the efficiency of the budget process, reforming the banking sector and fighting against financial crimes were discussed with the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Treasury of the United States, William Lary Macdonald,.

In May, it is planned to organize a visit to Uzbekistan of officials of the U.S. Treasury Technical Assistance Office to identify the priority areas of cooperation.

During the meeting with the Acting Deputy Director of the United States Geological Survey (USGS) Cindy Lodge, the parties exchanged views on practical measures to enhance cooperation with Uzbekistan and a Memorandum of Cooperation was signed between the Uzbek Committee on Geology and Mineral Resources and the USGS. The document provides for the establishment of cooperation in the field of geology, as well as the organization of joint trainings and educational programs for Uzbek specialists.

During the talks with Carolyn Lamm, the co-chair of the American-Uzbek Chamber of Commerce (AUTP), a number of promising projects of AUTP member companies in Uzbekistan were discussed, as well as measures for smooth implementation of the Road Maps adopted following two business forums in New York and Tashkent in 2017-2018 and during the summit talks in the U.S. in May 2018.

In general, according to the Uzbek Embassy in Washington, the visit of the Uzbek delegation to the United States allowed to hold a series of fruitful meetings in specific areas of bilateral cooperation, identify areas that require enhanced ties, and agreed on measures to further expand and deepen trade and investment ties.