The meeting between deputy Prime Minister – Minister of Investment and Foreign Trade of Uzbekistan Sardor Umurzakov and the British Deputy Secretary of State for International Trade (Minister for Exports) Mike Freer has taken place.
The Ministry of Investment and Foreign Trade (MIFT) says that representatives of the London Stock Exchange and the financial corporations “Standard Chartered” and “TheCityUk” were also included in the British delegation.
They discussed the current state and prospects for deepening the Uzbek-British partnership in the field of investment, trade and industry during the meeting.
The positive trends in the development of mutual trade were noted with satisfaction: in 2021, the volume of trade between the two countries rose up by 65%, while exports from Uzbekistan to the UK grew up by 2.5 times. Uzbekistan’s obtaining the status of a beneficiary of the Great Britain’s Enhanced Generalized System of Preferences scheme (“GSP Enhanced Framework”) facilitated this. 2022 continues to show the positive dynamics in bilateral trade: in January and April, trade showed growth by 68% compared to the same indicator last year. Uzbek exports to the United Kingdom rose up by 2.6 times.
They reached an agreement on the development of joint measures to attract British investors to the creation of joint export-oriented industries in Uzbekistan. The preferences of the GSP Enhanced Framework system are also beneficial for the organization of trainings and workshops and for Uzbek manufacturers and exporters.
The delegations also discussed the prospects for intensifying investment cooperation. They emphasized on the 40% increase of the number of British enterprises operating in Uzbekistan over the past few years. Representatives discussed the prospects for cooperation in the framework of attracting new British companies to implement projects in the field of processing agricultural products, animal husbandry, biopharmaceuticals, the textile industry, information and communication technologies and green energy.
The agreement to intensify work on the preparation of the 26th Uzbek-British Trade and Industry Council (UBTIC), which will be held in October this year in Tashkent, was achieved by the parties. Ties between the business circles of the two countries will be strengthened by the event, as well as new “growth points” for economic partnership will be identified and British investment and technology will be attracted to promising sectors of the economy of Uzbekistan.
The results of the meeting permitted to determine the format of further interaction within the framework of each of the considered areas of cooperation.
Source Link