Aripov: Uzbekistan has completed work to simplify access to the EAEU markets

This was announced on Friday by the PM of Uzbekistan Abdulla Aripov.

“We have fully completed the preparatory work to ensure the harmonization of national technical regulations with the EAEU standards. We consider the conclusion of an agreement on mutual recognition of certification results to be a logical outcome on the way to simplify the mutual access of goods to our markets. We count on the support of all countries of the association for the adoption of this joint document with the assistance of the EAEU,” Aripov said at a meeting of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council in an expanded format in Almaty.

The PM noted that the participation of Uzbekistan as an observer should contribute to an increase in trade flows and the liberalization of trade relations with the states of the association. According to him, the trade turnover of the republic with the EAEU countries increased by more than a third, to $17 billion.

Aripov specified that, in accordance with the current free trade regime, Uzbekistan does not apply trade restrictions to the EAEU countries.

“We stand for the joint development of specific measures to eliminate tariff and non-tariff barriers, since the regulation of goods moved between our countries should be of a parity nature,” he added.

In addition, Abdulla Aripov in his speech noted the relevance of problems in the field of food security.

Given the relevance of these issues, he invited those present at the meeting to take part in an international conference on food security.

“We plan to organize this conference together with FAO in September 2023 in the city of Samarkand,” he said.

In addition, Abdulla Aripov spoke at the plenary session of the international digitalization forum Digital Almaty-2023, in which, in addition to him, the heads of government of the EAEU member states take part.

He said that Uzbekistan proposes to integrate systems for the provision of electronic public services in the EAEU countries.

“We believe that relevant departments can work out the issue of integrating their national systems for the provision of electronic public services and document management,” he said.

The Prime Minister stressed that such integration will allow the population and entrepreneurs of the association countries to freely use all digital opportunities throughout the EAEU.

Aripov said that in 2023 Shavkat Mirziyoyev identified such areas as healthcare, education, agriculture and water management, as well as the real sector of the economy as the main priority of digitalization in the country.

Also in Uzbekistan, in the next two years, measures are envisaged to further expand the international Internet channel, modernize the mobile network and cover all regional centers with the 5G standard.

“Successful implementation of the above priorities is impossible without close cooperation. In this regard, we are determined to actively integrate our initiatives at the regional level. It is necessary to consolidate the existing capabilities of our countries in order to turn the region into an advanced center of digital technologies,” Abdulla Aripov concluded.

It should be recalled that Uzbekistan is an observer state at this meeting.