BAKU, Azerbaijan, Jan. 14
By Fakhri Vakilov - Trend:
Uzbekistan’s President Shavkat Mirziyoyev held a meeting to discuss the implementation of the agreements reached following the high-level visits to the UAE and Japan in 2019, Trend reports citing the presidential press service.
The president’s official visits to the UAE on March 24-26, 2019 and to Japan on December 17-20, 2019 opened a new page in the history of bilateral cooperation. As a result of these visits, a solid package of intergovernmental and interdepartmental documents, as well as agreements in the trade, economic and investment spheres, was signed.
So, with the UAE, agreements were reached on the implementation of joint projects worth more than $10 billion, and with Japan this figure exceeds $6.6 billion.
In particular, it is planned to implement large-scale projects in the energy sector, infrastructure development, the oil and gas, chemical and petrochemical industries, mechanical engineering, agriculture, the food industry, tourism and other areas.
During the meeting, it was noted that agreements with the emirate companies are already frutiful. Thus, the UAE "Masdar" company is investing $100 million in the construction of a solar power station in Uzbekistan. In October 2019, it was declared the winner of the first ever open tender in the history of Uzbekistan to attract investment in public-private partnerships in solar energy. Start of construction is expected in the first quarter of 2020.
Such achievements are also observed in many other projects with both the UAE and Japan.
Thus, with the participation of the emirate’s side, the investment fund “The Abu Dhabi Uzbek Fund” was created with a capital of $1 billion. To date, funding has been approved for small and medium-sized projects, as well as the construction of a hotel in Samarkand and the privatization of the Hyatt Regency Tashkent hotel.
With the assistance of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), a project is underway to build and equip the Republican Specialized Scientific and Practical Medical Center for Neurology and Stroke.
The Ministry of Development of Information Technologies and Communications of Uzbekistan, using credit from the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC), plans to raise $180 million for the implementation of the projects “Creating Data Storage and Processing Centers”, “Expansion international packet switching centers ”,“ Expansion of the telecommunication transport network and data transmission network “ and “ Modernization of the radio network ”.
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