Uzbekistan plans to carry out joint projects with Japan worth more than $6 billion aimed at fostering bilateral cooperation in such areas as power generation and agriculture, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev said recently in a written interview with the Nikkei Asian Review.

The President stressed that Uzbekistan will accelerate its economic and democratic reforms and seek to join the World Trade Organization at an early date.

Mirziyoyev pointed out that economic relations with Japan have improved in such areas as oil, gas, petrochemicals and tourism, and expressed a desire to strengthen the two countries’ “long-term strategic partnership.”

He noted that Uzbekistan has abundant mineral resources, with its gold, uranium and copper reserves each among the world’s 10 largest, and called for increased cooperation between Uzbekistan and Japan in their development. Advanced Japanese technologies will lead to production of high value-added goods in Uzbekistan, Mirziyoyev said.

Uzbekistan’s most urgent and important policy goal is to be admitted to the WTO, he said, adding that the country “embarked on comprehensive reforms in 2017.”

Mirziyoyev spoke of the progress Uzbekistan has made in opening the economy to the outside world, including “the liberalization of foreign exchange transactions.” He said that foreign investment is expected to triple from a year earlier to $7 billion in 2019.

It should be recalled that Shavkat Mirziyoyev paid an official visit to Japan on December 17-20 and met with Prime Minister Shinzō Abe and Emperor Naruhito.