BAKU, Azerbaijan, Mar. 11
By Ilkin Seyfaddini – Trend:
The organization of Belarus-Uzbek Agrarian Forum in February 2020 has brought economic relations between the two countries to a new level, a representative of Uzbek Leasing International JSC told Trend.
The Belarus-Uzbek Agrarian Forum was held in Tashkent at the end of February 2020. It was organized by the Ministry of Agriculture and Food of Belarus and the Embassy of Belarus in Uzbekistan.
The Belarusian delegation was headed by Vladimir Dvornik, deputy prime minister of Belarus, co-chairman of the Joint Intergovernmental Commission on Bilateral Cooperation between Belarus and Uzbekistan.
Within the forum, the Ministry of Industry of Belarus and Uzbek Leasing International signed an agreement on provision of services by the company under contracts of financial lease of goods produced in Belarus to residents of Uzbekistan.
"The agreement provides for more acceptable interest rates on leasing. Thus, the leasing of MAZ, MTZ, Belaz and other heavy vehicles produced in Belarus will be available under special conditions of financing," said the company representative.
"During the forum, Belarusian Kommunarka Ltd. was awarded as the best exporter to Uzbekistan for expanding mutual trade and strengthening interstate ties between the two countries," the representative added.
The forum presented the best achievements of Belarusian and Uzbek enterprises in the field of agricultural engineering, pedigree cattle breeding, design and construction of dairy farms, vegetable stores and processing industries. Special attention was paid to energy efficiency and resource saving in the production of meat and dairy products.
"Following the results of 2019, the volume of bilateral trade between Belarus and Uzbekistan exceeded $239 million. This is the largest indicator for our countries in the history of economic relations. In the same year, agricultural products worth $35 million were supplied from Belarus to Uzbekistan. In turn, the value of Uzbek agricultural products supplied to Belarus in 2019 exceeded $15 million," the representative said.
The company also noted that the promising areas of cooperation in the agricultural sector include the participation of the Belarus side in the construction of dairy farms and organization of milk processing in Uzbekistan, creation of a joint venture for the production of veterinary drugs as well as cooperation in training of Uzbek specialists on the basis of Belarus agricultural educational institutions.
Uzbek Leasing International Joint Stock Company is the first international leasing company in Uzbekistan, established in January 1995 with the participation of foreign capital.
The company's shareholders are National Bank for Foreign Economic Activity of Uzbekistan, Maybank (Malayan Banking Berhad) of Malaysia and Uzbek-Oman Investment Company.
The total amount of attracted external financial resources of the company exceeds $125 million. Among them are credit lines of international investors such as European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, International Finance Corporation, Asian Development Bank, Islamic Corporation for Development of Private Sector, Uzbek-Oman Investment Company LLC, AgRIF Coöperatief U.A. Foundation (the Netherlands) and Export Credit Insurance Agency Euler Hermes (Germany) as well as credit lines of commercial banks of the Uzbekistan including the National Bank of Foreign Economic Activity, Asaka State Joint Stock Company, and KDB Bank Uzbekistan.
The company's portfolio has more than 1,200 leasing projects for the total amount of more than $200 million, including a number of projects in poultry farming, food industry, textile industry and other sectors of the economy.
Following the results of 2019, Uzbek Leasing International was named among the top-5 largest lessors of Uzbekistan.
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