Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 3
By Fikret Dolukhanov – Trend:
Increasing trade with Iran to $1 billion is one of the top priorities for the government of Uzbekistan, Mehr News reported citing Bahodir Abdullayev, the Uzbek ambassador to Iran, as saying at a meeting with representatives of Iranian private companies in Arak, in the Markazi province.
Talking about the determination of the presidents of the two countries to increase the volume of trade from $400 million to $1 billion at their last year’s meeting in the capital of Kazakhstan, Astana, the ambassador stressed that achieving this goal is one of the priorities of Uzbekistan.
The ambassador noted that there are good opportunities in the Markazi province in the sphere of building materials, agriculture, pharmaceuticals, oil and gas, and added that Uzbekistan is ready to cooperate and increase trade with this province.
During his two-day visit to the Markazi province, Abdullayev met with officials and visited various companies.
Earlier First Deputy Chairman of Uzbekistan Railways Fazliddin Sagdullayev said that connection of Uzbekistan to Chabahar sea port through Iran's railway system will give impetus to the development of trade and economic relations and will contribute to the expansion of products transit between the two countries.
According to him, the Uzbekistan-Chabahar railway may play crucial role in high volume transit between Iran and Uzbekistan and satisfaction of the countries' demand in products.
In January-September 2018, the trade turnover between Uzbekistan and Iran reached $228.5 million, of which $135.8 million accounted for exports from Uzbekistan, $92.7 million for imports from Iran.
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