On 28 July, during the visit of the delegation of Uzbekistan to Turkey, the Minister of Investments and Foreign Trade Sardor Umurzakov met with the Minister of Trade of Turkey, Ruhsar Pekcan, the MIFT press service reports.

During the discussion, the parties noted that the trade and economic partnership between Uzbekistan and Turkey has shown strong growth in recent years: the volume of trade in 2019 amounted to $2.5 billion, which had increased by 22,7% compared to the previous year. The countries are ready to further increase the volume of mutual trade to $5 billion in the short term, despite the impact of the pandemic. In this context, the representatives mentioned the priority of expediting the negotiations on the draft Preferential Trade Agreement, which is currently being developed by experts from the two countries’ specialized agencies.

The parties also discussed a number of other topical issues in the economic sphere which has a direct impact on bilateral trade relations. It is planned to take measures to intensify cooperation between the quarantine agencies of the two countries within the joint elaboration of a cooperation agreement in the field of plant quarantine; this agreement will make it possible to reduce the costs of Uzbek and Turkish entrepreneurs while exporting goods.

The sides also emphasized the need to strengthen cooperation in the field of transport and logistics. In this context, it was noted that in January, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Uzbekistan signed a protocol on the introduction of tariff rebates (ranging from 50 to 70 percent) for freight transport. During the meeting, the Uzbek side proposed the Turkish railway administration to join the Protocol.

The implementation of the action plan for economic cooperation between Uzbekistan and Turkey was also revised, and the parties agreed to coordinate efforts and introduce a new monitoring mechanism to ensure the unconditional implementation of the document.