Baku, Azerbaijan, Aug. 17
Trend:
Negotiations of Tajik and Uzbek delegations in an expanded format are underway in Tashkent city as part of the state visit of Tajik President Emomali Rahmon to Uzbekistan, the Tajik Avesta news agency reported with reference to the presidential press service of Uzbekistan.
The main attention is paid to the development of trade and economic cooperation. A free trade regime is established between the two countries. The Uzbek-Tajik Intergovernmental Commission on Trade and Economic Cooperation has been operating since 2002.
The prime ministers of the two countries are co-chairmen of the commission, and this demonstrates the importance attached by the parties to the partnership in this sphere.
The year 2018 became a breakthrough in the history of the two countries’ bilateral relations. Since the beginning of this year, more than 50 meetings were held at various levels. Four meetings of the Intergovernmental Commission on Trade and Economic Cooperation were held.
In the first half of this year, the mutual trade increased by more than 35 percent compared with the same period in 2017. Trade agreements worth over $300 million were concluded.
“There are still many unused opportunities in our cooperation,” President Shavkat Mirziyoyev said. “By continuing the work at such a pace, we will soon bring the trade turnover to $500 million. In fact, our potential is at least $1 billion.”
The Intergovernmental Commission on Trade and Economic Cooperation has been entrusted to consistently continue building up mutual trade and diversifying its structure.
The need to take joint measures to expand cooperation among business structures and border regions of the two countries was noted.
Agreements have been reached to accelerate the implementation of projects for the assembly of agricultural machinery, production of building materials, food products, finished textile, electrical products and other goods.