TASHKENT (TCA) — On October 25, President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev arrived in Turkey with a two-day state visit at the invitation of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. It is the first official visit to Turkey by Uzbekistan’s president since 1999.
Mirziyoyev and Erdogan held a meeting in a narrow format. During the negotiations, cooperation between Uzbekistan and Turkey in political, trade, economic, investment, transport and communication spheres were discussed, the press service of the Uzbek president said.
The visit of President Erdogan to Uzbekistan in November 2016 demonstrated Turkey’s interest in strengthening cooperation with Uzbekistan. The two heads of state also held negotiations within the framework of One Belt, One Road forum on May 14 this year and the summit on science and technology of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation held on September 10 in Astana.
Turkey is an important trade partner of Uzbekistan. In 2016, bilateral trade amounted to 1.2 billion US dollars. For 9 months of this year, the mutual trade increased by 29 percent. There are about 500 Turkish companies in Uzbekistan.
During the negotiations, Mirziyoyev and Erdogan noted that there are still unused opportunities for mutually beneficial cooperation, and that this visit will give a new impetus to the development of contacts between ministries and departments, businessmen of the two countries.
It was said that Uzbekistan can export to Turkey a wide range of industrial products, transformers, cables and other electrical goods, polymers, copper and copper products, mineral fertilizers, yarn, fruit and vegetables, and processed food.
In Uzbekistan, Turkish companies take part in the organization of production, in free economic and small industrial zones, of products with high added value on the basis of deep processing of mineral resources and raw materials.
The negotiations paid special attention to the issues of transport and logistics. It was decided to optimize transit tariffs and provide preferences in order to increase the competitiveness and attractiveness of international transport corridors passing through the territory of Uzbekistan and Turkey.
