President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev started the first day of his official visit to the Arab Republic of Egypt with a meeting with the heads of leading companies of this country.
The event was attended by Egypt’s Minister of International Cooperation Rania Al-Mashat, President of the Federation of Chambers of Commerce Ibrahim Mahmoud al-Arabi, leaders of large companies such as Elsewedy Electric, El Araby Group, Orascom Construction, Poliserve Group, Al-Rowad, Lotus Garments Group.
At the meeting, it was noted that there is great potential in bilateral relations, there are great opportunities to expand business and entrepreneurship relations, to activate mutual investments between Uzbekistan and Egypt, and to increase trade.
The leader of the country pointed out that the joint efforts of the business circles of the two countries play an important role in restoring strong cooperation bridges such as the Great Silk Road, which flourished in the past.
The pace of partnership in the following years was recorded. In particular, the indicators of trade have doubled, the number of joint projects and enterprises has increased 6 times.
The head of state highly appreciated the effective results of yesterday’s Uzbekistan-Egypt business forum, at the end of which concrete agreements were reached on the implementation of more than 20 deals and contracts with a total value of $1.6 billion.
It was noted that there are wide opportunities for industrial cooperation in the energy, electrical engineering, chemical, mining, textile, agricultural, pharmaceutical, and leather-footwear sectors.
“All opportunities are open to Egyptian companies to jointly implement large investment programs in our country,” Shavkat Mirziyoyev said.
Opinions were exchanged on promising areas of cooperation and realization of new growth points. Proposals were made to start the implementation of joint projects and agreements as soon as possible.
In their speeches, representatives of leading Egyptian companies highly appreciated the large-scale reforms being implemented in New Uzbekistan.
It was noted that the ongoing reforms, the liberalization of the economy and the creation of a favorable investment environment open up great opportunities for the Egyptian business to expand its activities in the Uzbek market.
For example, Elsewedy Electric is the largest company in Egypt for the production of electricity, transformers and cable products, and is ready to develop joint projects for the construction of wind and solar power plants, the production of transformers, cable-wire products and additional parts.
Orascom Construction has expressed its interest in creating an industrial park in Uzbekistan, establishing production facilities for paint products and chemicals for building materials, as well as building a 100 MW wind power plant.
Sharing their views on the further development of bilateral cooperation, major Egyptian investors noted that they see our country as a bridge to enter the markets of Central Asia.
President Shavkat Mirziyoyev supported the stated plans and initiatives and instructed the officials of the Uzbek side to ensure strict control over the implementation of the proposed projects.
Following the meeting, it was decided to adopt a joint “roadmap” for the implementation of joint projects and further expansion of trade-investment cooperation.
