The fifth meeting of the Uzbek-Turkish IPC takes place in Ankara

Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- On 22-23 July 2019, the fifth meeting of the Uzbek-Turkish Intergovernmental Commission on Trade and Economic Cooperation was held in Ankara, which was attended by a delegation of Uzbekistan led by Deputy Prime Minister Elyor Ganiyev.

The delegation of Turkey was headed by Vice-President Fuat Oktay.

On the first day, the Embassy of Uzbekistan in Ankara organized a presentation of publications about Uzbekistan and bilateral relations with Turkey, including the magazines “Yangi O’zbekiston” (“New Uzbekistan”) in Turkish and “Yangi Turkiya” (“New Turkey”) - in Uzbek.

The event was attended by the Vice-President of Turkey Fuat Oktay, the main adviser to President Yalcin Topchi, the mayor of Ankara Mansur Yavash, members of the Grand National Assembly (Parliament) of Turkey, the head of the Turkish Agency for Development and Cooperation (TIKA) Serkan Kayalar, chairman of the Union of Chambers of Commerce and Turkish stock exchanges Rifat Hisarczyliklu and other officials and representatives of the business elite.

In his speech, Fuat Oktay conveyed the greeting of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, praised the state of and prospects for bilateral relations between Turkey and Uzbekistan, emphasizing the friendly nature of strategic partnership and the priority of economic ties.

On the second day, an Uzbek-Turkish business forum was held at the meeting of the Intergovernmental Commission, which was attended by members of delegations of two countries, representatives of more than 450 Turkish companies, heads of ministries and departments, as well as the general public and the media.

At the opening of the meeting, Deputy Prime Minister of Uzbekistan Elyor Ganiev spoke in detail about the processes of economic liberalization, a favorable investment climate, which are an important factor for the further development of mutually beneficial cooperation. Recognizing Turkey as an important trade and economic partner, Uzbekistan, the head of the delegation noted, identifies as a priority the attraction of direct investments, advanced technologies to the economy and an increase in export volumes.

Co-chairman of the Intergovernmental Commission, Vice-President of Turkey Fuat Oktay drew attention to the close ties, centuries-old history, common values and traditions of the peoples of the two countries. It was emphasized that this solid foundation became one of the key factors of modern relations between Turkey and Uzbekistan and allows constructively and on a mutually beneficial basis to expand and strengthen bilateral ties.

At the same time, he noted the results of measures taken from both sides in this direction, pointing out that Turkey today is among the top five foreign trade partners of Uzbekistan, occupies leading places in terms of bilateral trade (over US$2 billion), exports from our country (about US$1 billion), as well as the number of joint ventures and foreign enterprises with the participation of Turkish capital (over 1 thousand). At the same time, he stressed that both sides need to exert even more efforts in order to achieve the fulfillment of the instructions of the heads of our states - bringing the volume of bilateral trade to US$5 billion in the near future.

Special attention was paid to the fact that Turkey is the leader among foreign countries in the number of tourists visiting Uzbekistan. In 2017, the number of tourists coming to our country from Turkey reached about 18 thousand, and in 2018 this figure more than quadrupled to 78 thousand. With such indicators, Turkey ranks first among the partners of Uzbekistan from the “far abroad”.

During the negotiations, a number of important agreements were also reached, including on the introduction of a visa-free regime for Uzbek drivers and the cancellation of a duty on transit documents for them from 2020. Also in the forum were signed:

- Agreement on cooperation between the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Republic of Uzbekistan and the Council for Foreign Economic Relations of Turkey (DEIK);

- Agreement on cooperation between the Ministry of Investment and Foreign Trade of the Republic of Uzbekistan and the Organized Industrial Zone "Gebze" in Istanbul;

- Memorandum of Cooperation between Uzbekistan Temir Yollari and the Railway Administration of the Republic of Turkey (TCDD).

At the end of the Fifth meeting of the bilateral Intergovernmental Commission, the relevant Protocol was signed, an agreement was reached on holding the Sixth IGC Meeting in 2020 in Tashkent.

Following the forum, meetings and negotiations of industry departments, organizations and business circles were organized in the “B to B” and “B to G” formats, which resulted in the signing of a package of 62 agreements totaling US$455 million.

Evaluating the results of joint activities, the Ambassador of Uzbekistan to Turkey Alisher Agzamkhodjaev stressed that a new page was opened in relations between our countries in recent years, cooperation has risen to the level of strategic partnership thanks to the friendly relations of the leaders of the two countries - President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev and President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan.