A package of interregional cooperation agreements signed at the First Forum of the Regions of Belarus and Uzbekistan

Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) - The First Forum of the Regions of Belarus and Uzbekistan ended in Minsk. The first such event between our countries was a success. Eastern and Belarusian hospitality, fraternal friendship, big plans and prospects not only in words made the forum very fruitful. The parties signed over 20 cooperation agreements in various fields. Ahead is an active bilateral work to increase commodity turnover, create joint ventures and enter new markets, BelTA informs.

Opening the plenary session of the forum, Chairman of the Council of the Republic National Assembly Mikhail Myasnikovich said:

- The political dialogue between our countries in recent years has noticeably intensified: inter-parliamentary and intergovernmental contacts have become systematic, and trade and economic ties are being strengthened. However, there is no reason to calm down: mutual trade must be increased at a higher rate in order to achieve a turnover of 1 billion dollars a year. Such a task was set to us by the Presidents.

Mikhail Myasnikovich voiced suggestions that will help achieve these goals. Among them are the analysis and harmonization of contracts and agreements that regulate cooperation between countries, as well as the unification of national legislations, which will allow equalizing trade regimes, removing existing barriers and creating comfortable conditions for business.

In turn, First Deputy Chairman of the Senate of the Oliy Majlis of Uzbekistan Sadyk Safaev noted with satisfaction:

- The consistent development of bilateral relations across the entire spectrum of relations fully meets the interests of the two countries. In recent years, significant progress can be noted in our cooperation. The achieved level of bilateral relations is largely based on the existing personal confidential relations between the Presidents of both states.

Special attention at the I Forum of the Regions of Belarus and Uzbekistan - high technologies.

It is noteworthy that today the program document on the development of bilateral economic cooperation is the “road map”, which contains more than 150 measures for the development of interaction in various sectors of the economy.

First Deputy Foreign Minister of Belarus, Mikhail Yevdochenko, cited specific figures that inspire optimism about the overall prospects for economic cooperation: over the past two years, bilateral trade has increased almost 2.5 times. And in 5 months of this year, he added another 15 percent. Remarkable is the growth of 13.7 times the volume of mutual trade in services, which in the first 5 months has reached almost US$60 million. About 30 points of the “road map” are aimed at the development of modern forms of economic cooperation, including industrial cooperation. We are talking about the implementation of joint projects in mechanical engineering (for example, a joint project of MTZ and the Tashkent plant of agricultural equipment for the production of tractors in the amount of 5000 per year), agriculture, food, light, pharmaceutical industry.

For his part, Deputy Prime Minister of Uzbekistan Elyor Ganiev drew attention to the following aspects of bilateral cooperation:

“We see opportunities for creating joint transport and logistics centers both in Uzbekistan and Belarus. In Uzbekistan - for the promotion of goods to Central Asia, and here, in Belarus, for the sale of products to European markets.

Summing up, the Deputy Chairman of the Council of the Republic of the National Assembly, Marianna Schetkina, stressed the importance of signing a joint forum resolution:

- According to the results of the forum, the directions of inter-parliamentary and inter-regional cooperation will be determined in order to promote the development of intergovernmental dialogue as a whole.

The Forum of the Regions of Belarus and Uzbekistan, which ended in Minsk, was the first not only chronologically. Three dozen direct agreements between the regions of the two countries, more than two dozen commercial contracts, a solid set of documents on cooperation are only preliminary results of a truly historic event, which marked a real breakthrough in Belarusian-Uzbek relations. And both at the trade and economic, and at the humanitarian and even expert levels. From now on, Uzbekistan has every chance of becoming a reference point for us in Central Asia. And Belarus is the Uzbek outpost in Eastern Europe. And this is the main role of the forum that built the Eurasian bridge, which is looking to the future.