Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- On 9 July 2020, the Ambassador of Uzbekistan to Kuala Lumpur Ravshan Usmanov held talks with the Minister of Enterprise Development of Malaysia, Wan Junaidi.

During the meeting, prospects for the further development of bilateral mutually beneficial trade, economic and investment cooperation between the two countries were discussed.

During the meeting, the Malaysian side was provided with detailed information about the favorable business climate and ongoing steps to support entrepreneurial activities during the pandemic.

Wan Junaidi praised the reforms carried out by President Shavkat Mirziyoyev in the country’s economy and foreign policy, measures taken to combat the negative impact of the pandemic on economic growth and people’s lives.

He welcomed the decisions to resume the activities of at least 70% of exporting enterprises, protect socially vulnerable layers of the population, as well as other measures aimed at developing strategic sectors of the economy, the business community and the realization of export potential.

Of particular interest to the Malaysian side was the recent trends in creating a new system for supporting small businesses, which provides entrepreneurs with special courses, company registration, grants to cover part of the costs of equipment purchase, as well as the principle of “Tax Service - Assistant Entrepreneurs”, which are very important steps in the current environment to ensure sustainable economic growth.

Speaking about the significant potential of the two countries, the Minister noted the need for closer cooperation between representatives of medium and small businesses (SMB) of Uzbekistan and Malaysia, in particular in such areas as the electrical, textile, agricultural industries, which will raise mutually beneficial bilateral cooperation to a completely new level.

Following the meeting, an agreement was reached on considering the possibility of holding a video conference with the leadership of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Agency for the Development of Entrepreneurship of Uzbekistan to discuss issues of joint development of relevant programs aimed at supporting and developing the activities of SMEs, organizing specialized training courses for the exchange of experience for representatives of this field, as well as the exchange of experience in supporting entrepreneurship in Uzbekistan and Malaysia.