TASHKENT (TCA) — Uzbekistan and Russia have signed investment agreements worth $12 billion during Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev’s visit to Moscow on April 4-5.
“We are signing a package of agreements on the implementation of large investment projects worth $12 billion and trade contracts worth $3.8 billion,” Mirziyoyev said during his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on April 5.
Putin said that the two countries have agreed to expand industrial cooperation and support projects of Russian and Uzbek companies in the automotive, civil aviation, and pharmaceutical industries.
Putin also said that Russia will buy more than 5 billion cubic meters of natural gas from Uzbekistan, adding that Russia’s Gazprom and LUKoil are implementing large-scale hydrocarbon projects in Uzbekistan.
Putin underscored that “It is very important for us to continue the cooperation with Uzbekistan on a new level. Our countries have many unused opportunities for further developing the cooperation,” the press service of the Uzbek president reported.
Putin emphasized the increasing bilateral trade between the two countries, adding that trade turnover in agriculture has more than doubled, TASS news agency reported.
According to the materials prepared for the presidents’ meeting, imports of Uzbek fruit and vegetables to Russia in 2016 grew 92% (to $114.2 million) in value terms and 2.3-fold in physical terms (to 142,800 tons). In general, in physical volumes, the Russian-Uzbek trade grew 1% last year (while Russian exports slightly decreased, imports from Uzbekistan increased by 55.4%). In terms of value, the trade turnover between the two countries declined by 3.9% in 2016 to $2.726 billion.
Ahead of Mirziyoyev’s visit to Russia, companies and banks of Uzbekistan and Russia on April 3 signed 16 agreements and contracts totaling over $3.5 billion, the Uzbek Foreign Ministry’s press service said on April 4.
According to the ministry, the documents include an agreement on joint financing of investment projects, joint manufacturing of agricultural machinery, as well as agreements and memorandums on supply of Uzbek fruit and vegetables to Russia.
