Uzbekistan, Russia sign billions worth cooperation agreements

On Oct. 19, 2018, President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev and President of Russia Vladimir Putin held talks in narrow and extended formats. They focused on practical aspects of the development of trade, economic and investment cooperation.

Russia has traditionally been a key trading partner of Uzbekistan. There is a free trade regime between our countries. Since the beginning of the year, trade has grown by 30 percent.

At the talks, issues of increasing the volume and diversification of the commodity turnover nomenclature, the development of cooperation of industrial enterprises, and the strengthening of cooperation in the field of transport and energy were discussed.

“In September, a meeting of the Intergovernmental Commission chaired by the heads of government was successfully held. The interaction between the regions is developing. Large investment projects are being implemented in cooperation with leading Russian companies and banks. This year, according to our estimates, trade will reach $ 6 billion. This figure exceeds our plans. The task for the coming years is $ 10 billion,” Shavkat Mirziyoyev said.

Vladimir Putin fully supported the head of our state. The governments of the two countries are instructed to take the necessary steps to increase mutual trade. The presidents decided to strengthen the activities of the Intergovernmental Commission on Economic Cooperation.

Shavkat Mirziyoyev and Vladimir Putin noted with satisfaction that the total volume of documents concluded within the framework of the visit in trade, economic and investment fields amounted to $ 25 billion.

The adoption during the visit of the Intergovernmental Program for Economic Cooperation for 2019-2024 will be important.

During the negotiations, special attention was paid to the development of cultural and humanitarian exchanges, primarily in the fields of science, education, health care, and tourism.

As noted, the first joint Educational Forum “New Staff for New Economy” was held in Tashkent the day before, with the participation of heads of leading universities of the two countries.

As a result, over 100 agreements on cooperation in the field of education and science were signed.

It is noted that several dozen branches of leading higher educational institutions of Russia will be opened in Uzbekistan.