President Shavkat Mirziyoyev held talks with the visiting German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Samarkand on Sunday, the presidential press service said.

Shavkat Mirziyoyev underscored the "historical significance" of the visit of the German Federal Chancellor to Uzbekistan - this is the first visit of this level in 22 years.

"We consider this as a testimony to your special attention to the further development of the Uzbek-German ties and support for irreversible reforms in New Uzbekistan," Shavkat Mirziyoyev emphasized.

In 2023, the two-way trade between the two countries surpassed 1 billion euros. Year-to-date, the German companies have reportedly invested 800 million euros in the economy of Uzbekistan.

The eighth meeting of the Uzbek-German Business Council took place in Tashkent in June.

Shavkat Mirziyoyev highly valued the projects of financial and technical assistance through the KfW bank and the German Society for International Cooperation.

He called the exhibition of cultural heritage of Uzbekistan held last year in the New Museum of Berlin, which was visited by over half a million residents and guests of the capital of Germany, an important event in the cultural sphere.

This summer, the opening of the Avicenna and Heinrich Schipperges Higher School of Medical Sciences is planned in Samarkand.

The parties spoke in favor of continuing active contacts between parliaments, governments, and foreign ministries.

The foreign ministries were instructed to consider issues of raising the level of Uzbek-German relations, conduct regular consultations on international and provinceal issues, including the situation in Afghanistan.

A strategic Industrial and Technological Partnership Program was prepared for the current summit. Cooperation projects with leading German companies and banks worth about 9 billion euros are being developed.

They cover such areas as "green" energy, the chemical industry, the development of critical materials, mechanical engineering, the textile industry, the production of building materials and many others.

Among the most significant are the projects for the construction of combined-cycle power plants in the provinces of the country with Siemens Energy, the "methanol island" and the production of "green" ammonia with Linde Group, the development of a large copper deposit with the participation of KfW Ipex-Bank, copper mining and cable production with Giga Fiber, the production of carbon fiber with AMK Global, black carbon and hydrogen with Guesscon and many others.

A number of new projects are planned for the localization of pumping systems, renewable energy, the production of medical products, the creation of logistics centers.

Mirziyoyev and Scholz emphasized the importance of the agreements signed during the visit on cooperation in the field of critical raw materials and climate change.

Uzbekistan expressed interest in participating in the Climate Club, created at the initiative of the German government.

The parties also paid attention to the issues of transport and logistics, development of a system of efficient land and air routes, reduction of transport costs.

Shavkat Mirziyoyev also proposed to consider the issue of resuming direct flights of Lufthansa to the country.

Partnership relations between the provinces of Uzbekistan and Germany are expanding. Since the beginning of the year, representatives of two federal states of Germany have visited the country. Visits by delegations from Berlin, Bavaria and Thuringia are expected by the end of the year.

During the visit of Olaf Scholz, an agreement on labor migration aimed at organizing transparent and systemic cooperation in this area is also signed.

He proposed to develop a "road map" for practical cooperation in the training and sending of sought-after specialists from Uzbekistan to Germany at the level of responsible departments.

Uzbekistan is considering the introduction of the German model of dual education in the provinces. In order to develop educational and scientific exchange between leading universities, it was proposed to launch a Forum of Universities of the two countries.

Shavkat Mirziyoyev voiced readiness to facilitate the implementation of joint programs, opening of faculties and branches of higher educational institutions of Germany.

The visit will also include the launch of a joint School for the training of management personnel.

Shavkat Mirziyoyev emphasized the high interest of the country's youth in the German language, which is studied by almost 300 thousand young people. As an example, the recent victory of a schoolgirl from Andijan, Rayona Ibragimova, at the World Olympiad in German was cited.

Olaf Scholz stated that it is ready to facilitate the expansion of language learning and teacher training programs in the provinces of the country.

He also proposed to resume the work of the Joint Commission on Cultural Cooperation.