Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan ink various cooperation accords

By Azernews

By Ayya Lmahamad

Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan have signed a number of deals on the implementation of joint projects and trade contracts worth over $500 million, Azernews reports, citing Uzdaily.

The documents were signed within the Azerbaijani-Uzbek business forum which was held in Tashkent on June 20 ahead of the visit of President Ilham Aliyev to Uzbekistan. During the forum, Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan also signed 10 agreements on practical cooperation between ministries and agencies of the two countries.

"The documents signed within the #Uzbek-#Azerbaijani #businessforum will create additional opportunities for the expansion of collaboration between our #business circles, as well as the establishment of new ties in the fields of intellectual property, #industry, #energy, #construction, #tourism, #export, and #investment promotion, #trade, #SME-s, and others," Azerbaijan's Economy Minister Mikayil Jabbarov wrote on his official Twitter page.

During the forum, the participants considered opportunities to increase trade turnover, promote mutual investment and expand business contracts. Azerbaijan invited Uzbek businessmen to take advantage of the favorable business environment created in the country.

Opening the forum, the heads of delegations Uzbek Investment and Foreign Trade Minister, Deputy Prime Minister Sardor Umurzakov, and Azerbaijani Economy Minister Mikayil Jabbarov emphasized the commitment of the two governments to further expand diversified cooperation and establish strong ties between the business communities.

Stressing the successes achieved in investment, industrial, and trade cooperation, the parties noted the significant untapped potential of the economies of the two countries and the existing prerequisites for further increasing mutually beneficial partnership in such areas as petrochemical, chemical, electrical, textile, food, pharmaceutical, automotive and other industries.

The parties announced the introduction of specific measures to stimulate the increase of mutual and transit freight traffic through the territories of the two countries, which will deepen Uzbek-Azerbaijani cooperation in the field of transport and logistics.

The program of the event included B2B and G2B panel sessions, during which representatives of the Uzbek and Azerbaijani businesses were able to substantively discuss the prospects of business cooperation on the basis of concrete project proposals.

The volume of trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan amounted to $111.9 million in 2021. Presently, around 195 Azerbaijani enterprises are represented in Uzbekistan, 69 of which have joint capital and 126 of them have 100 percent Azerbaijani capital.