Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) – On 16-18 January 2020, the Ambassador of Uzbekistan to Italy, Otabek Akbarov, paid a working visit to the capital of the Lombardy region of Milan, where he met with Vice Governor Fabrizio Sala and his staff.

The sides discussed and agreed on practical steps to implement joint activities in 2020 in accordance with the agreements reached during the visit of the Governor of Lombardy Attilio Fontana to Uzbekistan in November 2019.

Fabrizio Sala noted that the Lombard delegation, which was received by the President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev, held talks with the heads of several ministries, departments and universities of the republic, and also visited the city of Samarkand, praised the outcome of the visit and was ready to jointly implement the whole range of issues discussed.

At the meetings, taking into account the planned summit visit to Italy, special attention was paid to enhancing and expanding trade and economic cooperation.

In particular, it was agreed to visit our country in the first half of this year by a delegation of companies and banks of Lombardy to hold meetings in government offices and with representatives of business circles to discuss specific projects.

Along with this, at the invitation of Governor Attilio Fontana, a delegation of the Samarkand region is planning a visit to Lombardy. During the visit, it is planned to establish direct partnerships between the two regions, to develop directions and projects for economic, cultural and humanitarian interaction.

Another important event should be the “Made in Uzbekistan” exhibition, which will be opened in one of the largest exhibition centers in Europe - “Fiera Milano”, where the international exhibition “EXPO - 2015” was previously organized. It is also planned to open the Trade House of Uzbekistan in Milan, which will host a permanent exhibition of domestic products and premises for business negotiations.

During a visit to the International University of Languages and Media Communications in Milan, meetings were held with his leadership and students. The university expressed its willingness to cooperate with the Uzbek side in the training of professional translators of the Italian language. In order to develop partnerships on a systematic basis, interest was also shown in establishing direct ties with the Uzbek State University of World Languages, as well as organizations involved in rebranding and promoting the image of Uzbekistan abroad.

The ambassador got acquainted with the structure and activities of the Cultural Complex "Fondazione Prada", which is one of the most famous world platforms for demonstrating new ideas and trends in the fields of fashion, design, fine art, literature, philosophy, music and cinema.

The head of the republic’s diplomatic mission also visited the Italy-Uzbekistan Chamber of Commerce and held meetings with representatives of a number of Italian companies operating in Lombardy, during which they discussed issues of revitalizing ongoing joint projects, as well as developing new ones.