President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev and President of the French Republic Emmanuel Macron met at the Elysee Palace on October 9.
Shavkat Mirziyoyev sincerely thanked Emmanuel Macron for the invitation and the warm welcome extended to the Uzbek delegation and noted that Uzbekistan sees France as a reliable and long-term partner.
The Presidents stressed the importance of developing new forms of regional and international cooperation, jointly combating challenges and threats.
The French President reaffirmed his support for large-scale transformations carried out in Uzbekistan and highly appreciated the foreign policy of the leadership of Uzbekistan.
The role of Tashkent in strengthening regional stability and security, developing mutually beneficial cooperation and good-neighborly relations in order to ensure the peaceful and sustainable development of Central Asia was particularly emphasized.
The heads of states reiterated the need to stabilize the situation in Afghanistan through diplomatic channels.
Furthermore, Shavkat Mirziyoyev and Emmanuel Macron discussed the development of trade, economic, investment, energy, technological, cultural and humanitarian cooperation in detail.
Particular attention was paid to the activities of the Uzbek-French Intergovernmental Commission on Trade and Economic Cooperation. The importance of increasing the volume of mutual trade, the implementation of promising investment projects in various sectors of the economy were emphasized.
In accordance with the Agreement on Partnership and Cooperation between the Republic of Uzbekistan and the European Union, convention on the avoidance of double taxation of income was signed.
In this regard, it was noted with satisfaction that following the results of the business forum, organized jointly with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the French Entrepreneurs Movement “MEDEF”, agreements were reached on the implementation of promising projects based on advanced European experience, knowledge and technology.
In particular, a cooperation program for the implementation of infrastructure projects totaling about 600 million euros was inked with the French Development Agency.
Issues of expanding cooperation in the fields of culture and art, tourism, science and technology, education, health care, and archeology were also discussed.
Agreements have been reached on opening branches of Strasbourg University and Pantheon-Sorbonne University in Uzbekistan.
Projects with such French companies as Airbus, Total, Vinci, Orano Mining, Total Eren, Veolia, Fevs Stein, Bouygues, Ranges and many others are to be implemented in Uzbekistan soon.
Besides, it is planned to organize an exhibition on the history of Uzbekistan in the Louvre Museum in 2021.
The head of our state noted that France has become the first European country whose citizens can travel to Uzbekistan visa-free.
Following the talks, 10 intergovernmental and interdepartmental documents were signed in total, covering such areas as road transport, tourism, military-technical cooperation, space exploration, investment projects financing, culture and others.
The results of the fruitful negotiations of the heads of states were a clear confirmation of the readiness of Uzbekistan and France to further expand and strengthen the long-term mutually beneficial partnership.
On Oct. 9, after the negotiations, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev departed for Tashkent.
