The President Shavkat Mirziyoyev today hosted the Saudi Arabian delegation led by the Minister of Investment Khalid al-Falih, the presidential press service said.

The parties reportedly discussed topical issues of further advancing the Uzbek-Saudi multifaceted ties.

“The President highly valued the dynamic upward trend in the bilateral cooperation in recent years. So, despite the pandemic, there has been an active dialogue at the level of government agencies and businesses of the two countries. Another evidence of this was the arrival in Uzbekistan as part of the Saudi delegation including the CEOs of about 30 leading Saudi companies,” the statement said.

The Minister Khalid al-Falih thanked the President for the warm welcome, conveyed greetings and best wishes from the King of Saudi Arabia Salman al-Saud and Crown Prince Mohammed al-Saud and expressed his sincere gratitude for the support of investment projects of Saudi companies and the creation of favorable conditions for their productive activities in the country.

“The day before, a joint business forum was successfully held in Bukhara, a decision was made to establish a Business Council, and agreements were inked signed on the implementation of major projects. Yesterday, a project was launched to build a new 1200-megawatt thermal power plant in Syrdarya province with the participation of ACWA Power. In addition, together with this company, wind power plants will be built in Bukhara and Navoi provinces with a total capacity of 1000 megawatts. In general, the number of joint ventures and projects in Uzbekistan with the participation of Saudi investments has increased significantly over several years,” the press service said.

In addition, the parties discussed specific projects of practical cooperation. Agreements were reached on the preparation and implementation of new projects in the energy, oil and gas, gas chemical and chemical industries, the industrial sector, agriculture, healthcare and pharmaceuticals, as well as in other areas, including through the implementation of the principles of public-private partnership.

Also, the parties focused on the development of instruments for financial support of joint programs and projects, including the creation of investment companies and microfinance organizations in Uzbekistan.

The parties agreed that a road map will be adopted and implemented to work out and promote these initiatives, the intergovernmental commission will resume its activities, and working groups on priority projects will be formed, the statement concluded.