Uzbekistan and the United States confirmed their readiness to build up economic partnership

Deputy Prime Minister – Minister of Investments and Foreign Trade of Uzbekistan Jamshid Khodjaev yesterday met with US Deputy Secretary of Commerce Marisa Lago, the correspondent of “Dunyo” news agency reports.

According to the Ministry of Investments and Foreign Trade (MIFT), during the negotiations, the current state and prospects for the development of trade and economic relations between the two countries were discussed.

The unique conditions created in Uzbekistan for comfortable activities of foreign investors were emphasized. The impressive results of ambitious, wide-ranging and irreversible reforms have been noted, which have led to the creation of a more open, market-oriented economy. Uzbekistan has successfully improved its international rankings on the country’s investment climate and ease of doing business, while reducing poverty and promoting a fair economy.

In this context, the prospects for expanding investment cooperation are considered, which also demonstrates progressive development – over the past few years, the number of enterprises with US capital in Uzbekistan has doubled – up to 315 units. An agreement was reached to speed up the process of signing a bilateral investment agreement and intensify cooperation to attract American companies and financial institutions to implement joint projects in Uzbekistan in such areas as mining, chemical and petrochemical industries, agriculture, textile industry and others.

The prospects for increasing the volume of bilateral trade were discussed. The parties noted a positive trend in mutual trade, which increased by 53% – to almost half a billion dollars in 2021 and by another 8.7% – in the period from January to August 2022. Readiness was expressed to continue joint work to create conditions for a further increase in the volume of Uzbek-American trade, including the provision of financial and technical support for the process of diversifying transport corridors in order to increase the volume of bilateral supplies of products.

Gratitude was expressed for the comprehensive support provided by the United States in the process of Uzbekistan’s accession to the WTO, in particular through the implementation of the USAID technical assistance project. The parties agreed to continue close cooperation with a view to the speedy accession of Uzbekistan to this organization.

Following the talks, the parties expressed their commitment to continue an active and ongoing dialogue on all the issues discussed to maximize the potential of economic cooperation between Uzbekistan and the United States.