Uzbekistan-Singapore: promising cooperation on the way to progress and prosperity

Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) – This week, President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev will pay a state visit to Singapore, Dunyo news agency reported.

The two states are separated by more than 5.6 thousand kilometers. This does not interfere with the dynamic development in recent years of cooperation in political, trade, economic, investment, cultural, humanitarian, tourism and other areas between Uzbekistan and one of the world’s recognized financial centers - Singapore, known for its effective reforms and innovative achievements.

The Republic of Singapore recognized the independence of Uzbekistan on 27 December 1992. Diplomatic relations between our countries were established in April 1997. Last year, the states celebrated the 25th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations.

The contractual and legal basis of bilateral relations is made up of 14 documents - 6 interstate and intergovernmental, 6 interdepartmental and others.

Over the past years, both states have consistently developed mutually beneficial cooperation based on mutual trust and respect. Through the regular exchange of messages, political contacts are maintained at the highest level, and inter-parliamentary and interdepartmental ties are consistently developed. Interaction within the framework of international organizations is being successfully carried out. In particular, Singapore supported the resolutions initiated by Uzbekistan within the framework of the UN General Assembly "Strengthening regional and international cooperation to ensure peace, stability and sustainable development in the Central Asian region" (2018), "Enlightenment and religious tolerance" (2018), "Sustainable tourism and sustainable development in Central Asia” (2019), “Declaring the Aral Sea region an area of environmental innovation and technology” (2021), as well as the recently adopted resolution “Strengthening the role of parliaments in accelerating the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals” (2022). In turn, Uzbekistan also supports the initiatives and candidacy of Singapore within the framework of various international structures.

Today, Uzbekistan is embarking on an innovative footing and is rapidly implementing socio-economic reforms aimed at introducing innovations, developing a digital and green economy, the social sphere and the tourism industry. In this regard, the prospects for cooperation with Singapore, which occupies a leading position in world rankings, including in terms of economic freedom and travel safety, ease of creating and doing business, development of biotechnology, and one of the ten leading countries in terms of digital competitiveness and innovative potential, are significantly increasing. New opportunities are opening up for the two countries.

Both states are interested in developing and expanding cooperation. This is evidenced by the dynamics of trade and economic relations. Thus, in 2020-2021, the growth in mutual trade was about 30 percent. In January-November 2022, this figure amounted to USUS$118.1 million. It should be noted that the most favored nation treatment has been established in mutual trade.

There are 90 enterprises established with the participation of Singaporean investors in Uzbekistan, of which 80 are joint and 10 individual enterprises. They are involved in the electrical, textile and food industries, education, trade, engineering and others.

It should be noted that in recent years there has been an investment activity of Singaporean business in Uzbekistan. The total investment from this country in 2016-2022 reached almost USUS$400 million. Last year, USUS$38 million of investment from Singapore was mastered, and at present, together with Singaporean partners, a list of 24 investment projects worth a total of USUS$1.73 billion has been formed.

A successful example of Uzbek-Singapore investment cooperation is the activity of the Indorama Kokand Textile JSC (IKT), which is a subsidiary of Indorama Industry PTE ltd, Singapore. The enterprise was put into operation in Uzbekistan in July 2011 as part of the Indorama strategy in Central Asia. Indorama Kokand Textile JSC has a natural advantage in that the company purchases raw cotton at competitive prices from domestic sources and increases the cost of supplies to world markets. The company is the first compact spinning enterprise in Central Asia producing 100% combed cotton yarn.

Currently, together with the group "Indorama Corporation Pte.Ltd." issues of the implementation of projects for the modernization of the Kokand superphosphate plant (US$30 million) and the Kyzylkum phosphorite complex (US$75 million) are being worked out.

Cultural and humanitarian ties between the two countries are developing on the basis of an appropriate agreement and are characterized by active dynamics. On an ongoing basis, there is an exchange of delegations in the cultural and humanitarian sphere, participation in various international cultural events. In particular, Singaporean creative teams regularly participate in the Sharq Taronalari International Music Festival in the city of Samarkand.

One of the promising areas of Uzbek-Singapore cooperation is the field of education. Since 2008, the Management Development Institute of Singapore (MDIS) has been operating in Tashkent, where teaching is conducted in the areas of "Banking", "Business Management", "Tourism" and "Modern IT in Business". In October 2021, the Tashkent Institute of Technology, Management and Communications (TMC), a branch of the Singapore TMC Academy, was also opened, and in October last year, the opening of the second TMC campus in Tashkent took place. The number of students studying here has grown 12.5 times - from 400 people in 2021 to 5 thousand in 2022.

Another important and successful example of cooperation in the humanitarian sphere was the launch in 2021 of an interactive online program of the Singapore company “SixClouds Pte. Ltd." for learning English for 300 schools of the Republic of Karakalpakstan, as well as 14 Presidential schools of Uzbekistan.

In the health sector, effective relations have also been established between the Ministry of Health of Uzbekistan and the Nanyang International Polytechnic Institute of Singapore on the implementation of the Public Health Management Program. In December last year, 23 public health doctors of our country completed advanced training courses at the Institute with the technical assistance of the Temasek Foundation of Singapore.

Cooperation is also being carried out in the field of training leadership personnel in Uzbekistan through the Singapore Cooperation Program (SPC) and the Civil Service College of Singapore. Since 2013, more than 230 representatives of ministries and departments of Uzbekistan have completed advanced training courses through the SPS.

Tourism is a very promising area for further cooperation. The two countries have great tourism potential and are interested in intensifying tourism exchange. In order to promote Uzbekistan as a new tourist destination for Singaporean tourists, in 2018 a visa-free regime was introduced for Singapore citizens for a period of 30 days. This contributed to an increase in the flow of tourists from Singapore, but the potential of this direction has not yet been fully exploited. In turn, Singapore’s rich experience in the field of tourism is another point of growth for bilateral cooperation for Uzbekistan.

In a word, despite the geographical distance from each other, Uzbekistan and Singapore have all promising opportunities for further intensification and expansion of cooperation in various areas. In this context, the upcoming state visit of the head of our state to Singapore promises to open a new page in the development of mutually beneficial and reliable partnerships for the benefit of the progress and prosperity of the peoples of the two countries.