Uzbekistan, Egypt Eye Broader Investment and Trade Ties

Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) — Uzbekistan and Egypt are moving to translate diplomatic goodwill into economic outcomes, with senior officials from both countries meeting in Cairo to map out a concrete expansion of bilateral investment and trade ties.

Foreign Minister Bakhtiyor Saidov held talks with Egypt's Minister of Investment and Foreign Trade Mohamed Farid Saleh, with negotiations centering on practical mechanisms for deepening economic engagement across multiple sectors.

The discussions covered a broad but focused agenda: boosting mutual trade volumes, scaling up investment flows, advancing industrial cooperation, and strengthening transport and logistics connectivity between the two countries.

Both sides also examined the potential for collaboration within free economic zones, the launch of joint manufacturing projects, and strategies for accessing new third-party markets together — a signal that bilateral ambitions extend beyond a purely bilateral framework.

Officials noted that Egyptian companies are already active in Uzbekistan, and that the track record of those existing projects is providing a credible foundation for the next wave of initiatives.

Five sectors were identified as carrying the greatest untapped potential: geology, agriculture, pharmaceuticals, energy, and industry — a range that reflects the complementary nature of the two economies rather than direct competition.

The investment meeting followed a separate cultural event between the two delegations at the Grand Egyptian Museum earlier in the day, suggesting Tashkent is pursuing a dual-track engagement in Cairo — pairing soft-power diplomacy with hard economic negotiation.