Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- On 22 March this year, Deputy Prime Minister - Minister of Investment and Foreign Trade Sardor Umurzakov met with Chairman of the Council of Elders of the Organization of Turkic States, Deputy Chairman of the Justice and Development Party of Turkey Binali Yildirim.

During the meeting, the current state and prospects for the development of relations between Uzbekistan and Turkey, as well as aspects of multilateral cooperation within the framework of the Organization of Turkic States were discussed.

The active nature of the Uzbek-Turkish cooperation in the investment, trade, economic, transport and logistics, cultural and humanitarian spheres, largely due to regular meetings and dialogues between the Heads of the two states, was noted.

In particular, it was noted that over the past 5 years, the volume of mutual trade has doubled and reached US$3.5 billion. Active work is underway to bring the Uzbek-Turkish trade to US$5 billion in the near future. In this context, the parties are actively cooperating to agree on a draft Preferential Trade Agreement and plan to sign the document in a short time.

Great success has also been achieved in the field of investment partnership: over the past three years, the volume of Turkish investments in the economy of Uzbekistan has doubled and, by the end of 2021, amounted to US$1.2 billion. 

A number of major projects have been implemented with Turkish companies such as Çalık Holding, Cengiz Energy, Aksa Energy, Akaya İnşaat, Varnet and other investors. At the same time, negotiations are being held with the Anadolu Group, Ekzachibashi, Medicana, Ajibadem companies for the implementation of new investment projects.

Special attention was paid to measures to strengthen transport and logistics ties between the member countries of the Organization of Turkic States. The need for joint work was noted to create new mutually beneficial logistics routes, simplify transit processes and increase the volume of cargo transportation through the territories of the member countries of the Organization. In this context, an agreement was reached to accelerate the development of a concept for the development of transport and infrastructure of the Turkic states for the period up to 2026 and the development of a separate "Roadmap" for the development of this area for 2022-2023.

Also, during the meeting, a number of other issues of bilateral and multilateral cooperation were considered: accelerating the launch of the Turkic Investment Fund and the Development Bank operating within the framework of the Organization of Turkic States, cooperation in the creation of engineering and technology centers based on research institutions specializing in the development of trade cooperation between the Turkic countries, as well as measures to establish interuniversity cooperation. In addition, issues of holding a number of joint events were discussed, including the “Industry Weeks”, organized in order to attract manufacturers from Turkic countries to establish industrial cooperation and create joint ventures, industry-specific industrial exhibitions, international and interregional business forums.

As a result of the meeting, a format for further practical cooperation to promote the discussed projects and initiatives was determined, and an agreement was reached to maintain close contacts at the managerial and expert levels.