Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- On 21 February, an Uzbek-Iranian business forum was held in Tehran, which was attended by representatives of government and business circles of the two countries. The delegation of Uzbekistan at the event was headed by Deputy Prime Minister - Minister of Investments and Foreign Trade Sardor Umurzakov, and the Iranian side - Vice President for Economic Affairs Mohsen Rezai Mirgaed.

In their speeches, the heads of delegations emphasized the great untapped potential for building partnerships between the business communities of the two countries, as well as the wide opportunities for implementing joint projects and establishing long-term business ties. Among them, including measures implemented in Uzbekistan to support foreign business, protect foreign capital, stimulate the development of the investment potential of regions and industries, as well as improve the investment climate.

It was noted that the economies of the two countries complement each other favorably, which creates prerequisites for further building up cooperation in such areas as the textile, chemical, pharmaceutical, electrical industries, biomedicine, the production of building materials and agriculture. At present, large projects have been successfully implemented in the areas of poultry farming, fish farming, the food industry and the production of building materials, and over the past 5 years, the number of enterprises with the participation of Iranian capital in Uzbekistan has increased 4 times.

As part of the program of the event, presentations were made of the investment potential of Uzbekistan in priority sectors, which included the most promising areas for attracting investment and ready-made project proposals.

The forum was also full of meetings between representatives of the business community of the two countries in the "B2B" format, during which the possibilities of implementing joint investment projects in Uzbekistan were discussed.

At the end of the event, the heads of delegations of the two countries called on the forum participants for close and productive cooperation in order to reach specific mutually beneficial agreements. As a result of the forum, a number of investment agreements and trade contracts were signed between Iranian and Uzbek businessmen for a total amount of about US$200 million.