Tashkent will host the Eighth Annual Central Asia Trade Forum (CATF) for the first time on Oct. 17-18, 2018, the Ministry for Foreign Trade of Uzbekistan reports.

The event will be organized by the U.S. Agency for international Development (USAID) in cooperation with the Ministry for Foreign Trade of the Government of Uzbekistan.

The Central Asia Trade Forum is an annual event attracted by representatives of the business circles of Central Asian countries, international organizations, prominent political and public figures of the region and the world. More than 1,000 delegates are expected to attend the forum this year.

The Forum provides a unique platform for businesses to explore new opportunities to reach the more than 70 million potential customers in Central Asia’s emerging markets.

It should be noted that since the first CATF was held in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan in 2011, business executives, government leaders and industry experts from Asia, the United States, Europe and the Middle East have used the forum as platform to share ideas, strike deals and forge new partnerships for future cooperation.

“New Horizons in Trade and Investment”, theme of this year’s forum, reflects Central Asia’s growing openness to regional and international trade.

A concurrent trade fair will showcase businesses from a variety of sectors across the region, including transportation, tourism, information technology, equipment manufacturing and horticultural production and processing, among others.

It is worth noting that the memorandum of understanding between the Ministry of Foreign Trade of the Republic of Uzbekistan and the US Agency for International Development on holding the Central Asian Trade Forum in Tashkent was signed during the official visit of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan S. Mirziyoyev to the United States in May 2018.