The Foreign Minister Bakhtiyor Saidov hosted the Ambassador of Ukraine Mykola Doroshenko Tuesday, who is ending his posting in Uzbekistan.
The parties discussed the issues on bilateral and multilateral agendas.
“Glad to state the strong positive dynamics in the Uzbek-Ukrainian trade turnover,” the minister said in his Telegram account.
Bakhtiyor Saidov voiced gratitude to Mykola Doroshenko for his efforts to enrich bilateral relations between our two countries over the years and wish all the success in his new endeavors.
According to the National Statistics Committee, the decline in trade between Uzbekistan and Ukraine, which began in 2022, stopped in the first half of 2025 and significant growth became noticeable.
In January-June 2021, the two-way trade between the two countries topped $278.4 million, which was then the highest value for the previous four years. In the same period of 2022, after the start of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the trade fell to $176.4 million, for the same period in 2023 it dropped to $105.4 million, 2024 - $101.5. However, already in the first half of 2025, the trade between the two countries increased sharply by 50% - to $151.8 million.
In September 2024, Ukrainian Ambassador Mykola Doroshenko said that the main problem for economic cooperation with Uzbekistan was the difficult logistics. According to him, in 2021, the bilateral trade between Uzbekistan and Ukraine reached $747 million. "In just one year, we increased trade to this level from $350 million," he said then.
However, after the start of the war, Russia banned the supply of goods from Ukraine in transit to Central Asia through its territory, the diplomat noted.
"Currently, these deliveries are carried out via the Trans-Caspian corridor to the ports of Aktau or Turkmenbashi, and then to Uzbekistan. This greatly complicates and increases the cost of logistics. The cost of transporting goods is from 10 to 15 thousand dollars per vehicle, although previously the cost of transporting one vehicle of goods was about 4,500 dollars. We have something to offer Uzbekistan - food, grain, sunflower oil. But their price is increasing due to expensive delivery," the ambassador emphasized then.
