Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) - At a meeting with Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Mikhail Mishustin, Prime Minister of Uzbekistan Abdulla Aripov asked the Russian side to increase the supply of the Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine and consider the possibility of its production in the country.

The meeting of the heads of government of Uzbekistan and Russia was held in Kazan (Tatarstan). A meeting of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council is being held in Kazan these days. The meeting brought together the heads of government of Uzbekistan, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.

Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin noted: “We value friendship, good-neighborly relations with Uzbekistan and are always interested in bringing our interaction to a new level. We welcome the decree of the President of Uzbekistan on measures for further development and multifaceted cooperation with Russia”.

“We continue to prepare for the state visit of President Mirziyoyev. A substantial package of documents is being worked out, a very busy program of his stay is being prepared. The creation of an exhibition and cultural center of Uzbekistan is being completed at the Exhibition of Achievements of the National Economy in the Russian Federation. An important stage in the preparation of the state visit will be the meeting of the joint commission at the level of the heads of the governments of Russia and Uzbekistan, at our level with you. This format emphasizes the scale and significance of bilateral cooperation,” Mishustin said.

“Russian and Uzbek departments are closely involved in the fight against coronavirus. In April, a consignment of the Russian Sputnik vaccine was delivered to Uzbekistan. We are also preparing to launch production of the Sputnik vaccine in Uzbekistan,” he stressed.

“Russia is one of the leading trade partners of Uzbekistan. Despite the coronavirus, in 2020 our mutual trade grew by almost 16% compared to 2019 and amounted to almost US$6 billion. Agricultural trade indicators are impressive. In January-March, trade in this area increased by 14% and amounted to US$116 million. The heads of our states set an ambitious task - to increase mutual trade to US$10 billion. We are solving it step by step. It is good that, despite the pandemic, there is still a positive trend,” said the head of the Russian government.

He stressed that over 2 thousand enterprises with Russian capital are operating in the Uzbek market. The volume of accumulated Russian investments is about US$10 billion. “The intergovernmental commission is engaged in practical issues, it is headed by the head of our economic department, Maxim Gennadievich Reshetnikov, from us. We are successfully implementing the intergovernmental program of economic cooperation until 2024,” Mikhail Mishustin said.

“The Russian Export Center provides full support to projects in the agro-industrial complex, mechanical engineering, metallurgical and pharmaceutical industries,” he said.

The Prime Minister of Uzbekistan Abdulla Aripov, in turn, said: “Our countries have reached a qualitatively new stage in the development of bilateral relations, the intensity of which is steadily increasing from year to year. Such positive dynamics have been achieved primarily due to the established trusting relations and complete mutual understanding between the Presidents of the Republic of Uzbekistan and the Russian Federation.”

“Active contacts between the delegations of the two countries at various levels ensure consistent preparation (you just noted) of the official visit of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan to the Russian Federation. Preparations are also underway for the second meeting of the Joint Commission at the level of the heads of government of the Russian Federation and Uzbekistan,” Aripov said.

“Russia is a key trade and economic partner of Uzbekistan. Despite the negative economic consequences of the pandemic in the world, we continue to work to bring mutual trade to US$10 billion. And I completely agree that, despite the pandemic, our level of trade has increased over the past year,” he added.

“Today, a solid package of large investment projects is being implemented in the fields of petrochemistry, mining metallurgy, energy, production of building materials, processing of fruits and vegetables and others. Interbank cooperation is actively developing, including with VEB.RF, Gazprombank, Sberbank and other banks,” said Prime Minister of Uzbekistan Abdulla Aripov.

“Subjects and banks of Uzbekistan began to actively use the Russian ruble, ruble loans from Russian banks for the implementation of projects in Uzbekistan,” the head of the government of Uzbekistan emphasized.

“On 5-7 April, the first international industrial exhibition “Innoprom” outside the Russian Federation was successfully held in Tashkent, and we are very grateful and appreciate it very much that the leadership of the Russian Federation chose Tashkent for the foreign exhibition. As part of the exhibition, agreements were signed for a total amount of more than US$3 billion. It is important to jointly ensure their practical implementation,” he said.

“We welcome the start of supplies of Sputnik V vaccine to Uzbekistan. Vaccination with Sputnik V has already begun successfully. She is in great demand in Uzbekistan. Now we have a contract for the supply of 1 million doses, but we would like to ask you to increase the volume. We are ready to increase this contract and would be glad, if there is such an opportunity, to start production of a vaccine in Uzbekistan, since our pharmaceutical enterprises and the industry as a whole are now on the rise,” said Prime Minister of Uzbekistan Abdulla Aripov.

“I am confident that by joint efforts we will be able to overcome the limitations associated with the pandemic and create conditions for the free and safe movement of our citizens, tourists and entrepreneurs. In this regard, we also note with satisfaction the resumption of regular flights between the two countries,” Aripov said.

“A unique in its kind joint educational project “Class” is being successfully implemented to organize Russian language teaching in Uzbek schools. This is usually done in other countries in schools with Russian as the language of instruction, but here - in schools with Uzbek as the language of instruction with the assistance of Russian specialists. To date, 135 teachers have already started working in our country, by the end of the year their number will reach 200, and in subsequent years - up to a thousand specialists. We are very grateful to you for this,” said Abdulla Aripov.

“For our part, we will also fulfill all our obligations to support these specialists. It is gratifying that within the framework of the project, Uzbek and Russian specialists are working together to revise teaching methods, create new textbooks, and introduce a new system of advanced training for teachers of the Russian language,” he added.

He noted that 12 branches of the leading higher educational institutions of the Russian Federation are currently operating in Uzbekistan. Work continues on the opening of new joint higher educational institutions, as well as the joint work of more than 100 different departments of Russian universities with higher educational institutions of Uzbekistan.

“Further development of multifaceted bilateral cooperation meets our mutual and long-term interests. For our part, we are committed to the consistent implementation of all our agreements,” the Prime Minister of Uzbekistan said.