Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- On 28 July 2020, a meeting of the government delegation of Uzbekistan headed by Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Uzbekistan Sardor Umurzakov with Vice President of the Republic of Turkey Fuat Oktay and the leadership of key ministries and departments was held in Ankara Turkey.

The meeting was devoted to the discussion of interaction to minimize the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the development of economic relations between the two countries, as well as the prospects for expanding cooperation between Uzbekistan and Turkey in the field of investment, trade, transport and logistics.

During the negotiations, the parties on a reciprocal basis noted that despite the negative impact of the pandemic on international economic relations, Uzbekistan and Turkey throughout the entire period continue to actively work to implement common agreements and tasks identified by the heads of the two states.

The head of the Uzbek delegation expressed gratitude to the Government of Turkey for providing timely practical assistance to Uzbekistan in the fight against coronavirus infection in the form of supplies of medical equipment and mechanical ventilation devices, as well as organizing a visit of experts from the professorship of Turkish medical institutions.

In connection with the implementation in the Republic of additional measures to prevent the spread of coronavirus infection among the population, the possibilities were considered for organizing subsequent visits of Turkish doctors to Uzbekistan to provide advice on providing assistance to the population, as well as to assist in organizing the management of medical institutions.

The meeting participants also exchanged views on the completion of the ratification procedures for a number of intergovernmental agreements between Uzbekistan and Turkey in the trade and economic sphere. It was noted that thanks to close bilateral interagency coordination, it was now possible to achieve the entry into force of the Agreement on Mutual Encouragement and Protection of Investments, the Agreement on the avoidance of double taxation, as well as the Agreement on International Combined Carriage of Goods and the Agreement on the International Carriage of Passengers and Goods.

The formed contractual platform will create the necessary legal framework and conditions for bringing the multifaceted cooperation between the two countries to a qualitatively new level, bearing in mind the dynamic increase in the volume of mutual investment and trade between the two countries.

In this context, an agreement was reached to intensify interaction within the framework of the joint development of the draft Agreement on preferential trade and to complete the coordination processes as soon as possible.

Special attention was paid to the issues of transport and logistics cooperation - in order to ensure sustainable growth in the volume of cargo transportation along the transport corridors connecting Uzbekistan and Turkey, the issue of creating along these corridors a system of expedited customs clearance "Green Line", which implies the introduction of mechanisms for preliminary declaration of goods and electronic exchange of information between the immigration, quarantine and transport authorities of the countries concerned. It was decided to create a special joint working group consisting of representatives of foreign trade, customs and transport authorities, whose task will be to work out practical tasks within the framework of this initiative.

Within the framework of the meeting, the progress of the implementation of the "Action Plan for Economic Cooperation between the Republic of Uzbekistan and the Republic of Turkey", approved during the visit at the highest level in February this year, was considered.

It was decided to speed up the practical implementation of all points of the Plan through close coordination of the relevant ministries and departments of the two countries.

Also, following the meeting, the parties agreed to hold a meeting of the Intergovernmental Joint Economic Commission by the end of this year in Tashkent.