On December 15 Moscow hosted the 24th meeting of the Uzbekistan-Russia intergovernmental commission, which was co-chaired by the Deputy PM Zhamshid Khojaev and the Russian Deputy PM/Minister of Industry and Trade Denis Manturov.
Deputy PM Khojaev underscored that the cooperation between industry ministries and departments of Uzbekistan and Russia and the ties within the INNOPROM. Central Asia exhibition in Tashkent and the third interprovinceal forum in Kazan were very important and have become productive platforms for strengthening ties between business circles, manufacturers and provinces of the two countries.
According to him, Russia is one of the key investors in the Uzbek economy. The volume of investments by Russian companies already surpassed 1.2 trillion rubles (about $13.37 billion). “This, for example, applies to large-scale infrastructure and industrial projects. Now, on the initiative of the Uzbek authorities, we are working on a number of projects, meaning the creation, with the participation of Russian industrial companies and the support of financial institutions, of a metallurgical cluster near the Tebinbulak deposit, the construction of a copper processing plant at the Almalyk MMC, a gas chemical complex in the Bukhara province and thermal power plants,” he said.
While, the setting up of a joint industrial parks in Uzbekistan, which had already been launched in the city of Chirchik and the Jizzakh province, will strengthen industrial cooperation, he believes. “Further we plan to replicate this practice in Navoi, Bukhara and Samarkand provinces,” he added.
“Speaking about cooperation in the financial and banking sector, I would like to note the readiness of the Uzbek authorities to step up the mechanism of mutual settlements in the national currencies of the two countries, taking into account the interests of the parties,” the Russian government website quotes him as saying.
Russia is considering the possibility of increasing the export of oil and petroleum products to Uzbekistan, he emphasized.
According to him, the parties are fruitfully cooperating in the field of standardization and metrology. Currently, recommended lists of testing equipment have been formed for the modernization and retrofitting of testing laboratories on the Uzbek side.
“As a result, it will be possible to assess compliance with the requirements of 15 technical regulations of the EAEU (Eurasian Economic Union). We attach great importance to cooperation in the energy sector. We are exploring the possibility of increasing supplies of oil and petroleum products to Uzbekistan,” TASS quoted Manturov.
Following the meeting, a memorandum of understanding was signed between the Business Development Bank of Uzbekistan and the Federal Corporation for the Development of Small and Medium Enterprises in the field of industrial cooperation and integration of digital systems.
