Baku, Azerbaijan, July 28
By Fikret Dolukhanov – Trend:
Uzbekistan and Russia may hold the first inter-regional forum in October 2018, Uzbek media reported.
The talks were held on July 27 by Foreign Trade Minister of Uzbekistan Jamshid Khodjaev and the adviser-envoy, charge d'affaires of the Embassy of the Russian Federation in the Republic of Uzbekistan Vadim Mitrofanov.
“Today's meeting is very timely, and such a large event requires careful preparation, the first Uzbek-Russian interregional forum will serve as an impetus for a significant intensification of cooperation between business circles of the two countries,” Mitrofanov underlined.
The parties expressed interest in development of direct cooperation between the regions of the two states in business, transport and development of cooperation ties.
In 2017, within the framework of the state visit of Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev to the Russian Federation, an intergovernmental agreement was signed to promote interregional cooperation.
Over the past year and a half, delegations from several regions of Uzbekistan visited the Russian Federation: the delegations of the Tashkent region to the Leningrad Region and St. Petersburg, the Andijan Region to the Novosibirsk Region and Krasnoyarsk, the Namangan Region to the Sverdlovsk and Chelyabinsk Regions, the Samarkand Region to the Republic of Tatarstan and the Republic of Bashkortostan.
Also, last year visits were made to Uzbekistan by delegations from the Republic of Tatarstan, Chelyabinsk and Smolensk regions, St. Petersburg and the Chechen Republic. Since early 2018, representatives of the Moscow city, the administration of the Novosibirsk, Orenburg, and Sverdlovsk regions have visited in Uzbekistan.
As a result of these visits, a number of interregional agreements were reached to increase trade turnover and strengthen cooperation. In particular, there is an intensive dialogue between the cities of Tashkent and Moscow: a program of cooperation between the capitals of the two countries for 2018-2020 is being drawn up, which envisages cooperation on such concepts as "safe city", "smart city", and development of an electronic platform for the urban environment .
---
Follow the author on Twitter: @FDolukhanov