Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- The Ministry of Investments and Foreign Trade held a briefing dedicated to the Forum of Heads of Regions of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization member states, which will be held on 3-4 August this year in Tashkent. The event was attended by local and foreign media representatives.

During the briefing, First Deputy Minister of Investments and Foreign Trade A. Voitov spoke about the significance of the event for our country. The forum, held within the framework of the chairmanship of the Republic of Uzbekistan in the SCO, is intended to become a dialogue platform at the regional level for discussing the development of interaction between the member countries of the Organization.

The event is held as part of the implementation of the initiatives of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev, put forward at the Summits of the SCO member states in Moscow in 2020 and in Dushanbe in 2021.

The new foreign policy strategy of Uzbekistan over the past five years is clearly reflected in the activities of the SCO. In particular, despite the pandemic, Uzbekistan has maintained positive economic growth rates over the past few years. Thus, the trade turnover of the Republic of Uzbekistan with the SCO countries in 2021 increased by 23.6% compared to 2020, which in absolute terms amounted to $21.1 billion.

It was emphasized that the main goal of the Forum is to deepen interregional cooperation in trade, economic, investment, cultural, humanitarian and other priority areas, to create favorable conditions for the development of comprehensive cooperation between the regions of the SCO member states.

The large-scale event will be attended by heads of state bodies, administrative and territorial units, as well as representatives of business circles of the SCO member states. As part of the forum, it is planned to hold panel sessions in such areas as tourism, cultural and humanitarian cooperation and agriculture.

In addition, there will be a business forum in the format of a round table and B2B meetings of representatives of the business community. This format of direct contacts will allow the heads of companies to exchange contacts and determine the prospects for cooperation. It is also expected that investors will visit a number of regions of Uzbekistan to get acquainted with the industrial potential of our country.