Deputy Prime Minister Jamshid Khojaev, Russian Deputy PM/Minister of Industry and Trade Denis Manturov and president of Tatarstan Rustam Minnikhanov attended the III Forum of Interprovincial Cooperation between Uzbekistan and Russia, the Russian Ministry of Industry and Trade reported.
Jamshid Khojaev read out the welcoming speech of the President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev. It said: “We have great opportunities to deepen investment cooperation. To do this, we call for more active use of the advantages of the technology parks being created, as well as new instruments of financial support, in particular, the recently established Industrial Development Fund of Uzbekistan.”
Denis Manturov, in turn, read out the welcoming speech of Russian President Vladimir Putin: “An important task is to find new, promising forms and methods of joint work, including by agreeing on road maps with specific measures for the development of interprovincial ties, clearly defining their time frames.” implementation."
At the forum, 3 interprovincial and 7 commercial agreements in different sectors were signed.
Thus, action plans were signed to develop cooperation between the governor offices of Fergana and Jizzakh provinces and the government of Bashkortostan for 2023–2025, as well as between the governor’s office of the Surkhandarya province and the government of Tatarstan. These documents include such aspects as the development of joint projects, holding events and organizing export deliveries of a number of products.
Among the commercial agreements is a Memorandum between the Ministry of Digital Technologies of Uzbekistan and the Russian marketplace Wildberries on cooperation in the field of online trading, as well as a Memorandum of understanding between the governor’s office of the Tashkent province and the marketplace on cooperation in the construction of a multimodal logistics center in the Tashkent province.
It should be noted that in November 2022 it was reported that Wildberries intended to build a logistics complex for the sale of finished products from Uzbekistan - textiles, leather goods, construction materials and electrical equipment - directly in Tashkent. The project cost was estimated at $130 million.
Following the forum, Wildberries announced that the company’s logistics hub will be built in the Tashkent province. The planned area is over 150 thousand square meters. m. The Governor’s office of the Tashkent province will allocate 29.4 hectares of land to Wildberries. The online platform plans to invest about $140 million in the construction of a logistics facility. The message emphasizes that this hub could become the company’s largest logistics center outside of Russia and will create over 7,500 jobs for residents of Uzbekistan. The opening of the logo center is planned for 2025.
During the forum, a Memorandum of understanding was also signed between the Tashkent governor’s office and the Russian HMS Group on interaction in the field of exchange of technical and technological experience in water supply and sanitation.
An agreement was also signed between Tashkent Metro and TMH International on the supply of metro cars from Russia.
While, a Memorandum was signed on the development of direct cooperation in the field of information technology, the creation of an independent ecosystem, the exchange of international experience, joint integration with international markets between the Uzbek Directorate of the Technology Park of Software Products and Information Technologies and the Russian technology park.
A Memorandum of understanding and the development of e-commerce, as well as improving the mechanisms of cross-border trade and the development of entrepreneurship in Uzbekistan, was also signed between the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Uzbekistan and the Russian marketplace Ozon, as well as a comprehensive program of action between the Uzbek-Russian and Russian-Uzbek business councils to expand cooperation business communities.
The Forum of provinces of Uzbekistan and Russia is being held for the third time. It was attended by 3,000 participants from all provinces of Uzbekistan and 20 provinces of Russia.
