Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- On 25 February, a business forum was held at the International Business Center with the participation of an Austrian business mission led by Richard Schenz, First Vice President of the Federal Economic Chamber.

The event was organized by the Ministry of Investment and Foreign Trade and the Agency for the Promotion of Foreign Investment under the Ministry of Investment and Foreign Trade.

The meeting of the business forum was opened with a welcoming speech by the chairman of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Adham Ikramov.

More than 50 representatives from 30 companies representing a wide range of areas were included in this business mission from the Federal Economic Chamber. As Richard Schenz emphasized, opening the event, that over the past few years is one of the largest delegations of Austrian business representatives who arrived in Uzbekistan. On the eve of the forum, about 250 business meetings were organized in representatives of the public and private sectors in order to develop cooperation and study Uzbekistan as a potential market for investment and development of trade relations.

“On behalf of the Federal Economic Chamber, I would like to note that today we are considering the possibility of forming an office in Tashkent,” Richard Schenz shared with the forum participants. “Today, Austrian companies can offer high-quality products and services of high quality to partners from Uzbekistan, especially in the field of transport, ”infrastructure, industrial modernization, technology for environmental protection, energy, agriculture and food processing.”

The Austrian side noted that Uzbekistan has always been of great interest to Austrian companies, and part of the business mission is already actively working in the country. Today in Uzbekistan there are 49 enterprises with Austrian capital, of which 29 represent joint ventures and 20 companies with 100% Austrian investments. The companies are represented in such areas as leather and footwear and textile industry, pharmaceuticals, printing, construction materials. In addition, 10 representative offices of Austrian companies are accredited, the main areas of activity of which are the production and sale of pharmaceuticals, the supply of equipment, consulting and services.

Further, the presentation of “Invest in Uzbekistan” was made by Oybek Elmuratov, introducing the forum participants to the key macroeconomic indicators and measures, carried out by to improve the investment climate and attract foreign investors. During the speech, he noted that last year alone, foreign direct investment amounted to about US$4.2 billion. He underlined that for several years Uzbekistan has made an impressive breakthrough and qualitatively improved its position in a number of international economic ratings.

Also, during his speech, he acquainted with the activities of the Agency for attracting foreign investment, emphasizing that the agency is engaged in facilitating the opening of a business with the participation of foreign capital and resolving issues on entering the Uzbek market for foreign investors. It was noted that in case of questions, forum participants can turn to Agency experts.

Representatives of the Ministry of Energy of the Republic of Uzbekistan and the State Assets Management Agency made presentations in the framework of the forum in order to familiarize themselves with the new implemented policy for improving the industry, the main tasks of departments for the coming years, and promising areas for international cooperation.

At the end of the meeting, B2B and B2G meetings were held, where participants in the business mission could ask questions of interest and discuss the possibilities of developing joint business partnerships.