Before the summit, there was an official welcoming ceremony for the President of Uzbekistan at the Istana palace.
A guard of honor lined up in honor of the high-ranking guest on the square in front of the palace. The military orchestra played the national anthems of the two countries.
Following the ceremonies, the presidents held a bilateral meeting and discussed prospects for further deepening cooperation between Uzbekistan and Singapore in a number of fields.
It was noted that the parties understand each other on the issues of regional stability and consistent development in international arenas and help each other in promoting initiatives in this regard.
Following the talks, Shavkat Mirziyoyev invited Halimah Yacob to Uzbekistan.
Later, the President of Uzbekistan held talks with the Prime Minister of Singapore, Lee Hsien Loong, at the Istana residence.
The sides comprehensively reviewed the current state and prospects of cooperation, and noted that relations in the priority areas are developing rapidly.
In particular, significant results were achieved in the trade and economic sphere. In the past few years, the trade has doubled. The number of enterprises with the participation of Singaporean capital in Uzbekistan has increased 4 times. The volume of direct investments from this country to the economy of Uzbekistan has reached $700 million.
It was noted that there are many untapped opportunities for expanding practical cooperation in several areas.
Singapore is the economic center of the Asia-Pacific region. For many years, this country has been one of the largest and most developed economies in the world, relying on its success in such important sectors as electronics, the chemical industry, biotechnologies, banking, logistics and transport engineering.
Taking this into account, Mirziyoyev indicated five main directions of cooperation with Singapore in the near future.
The first is the development of human capital and the training of highly qualified personnel for public administration. With the participation of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, it was agreed to jointly implement a program to train and improve the skills of civil servants in the fields of governance, urban planning, infrastructure development, digital transformation, innovation, education and health. Also, on the basis of the Public Administration Academy of Uzbekistan, an intensive retraining program for civil servants will be launched involving leading experts from Singapore.
The second direction is aimed at involving Singapore in the privatization processes in Uzbekistan. In this sense, the parties discussed prospects for the implementation of projects involving the privatization of large enterprises in Uzbekistan using advanced experience, modern technologies and management methods of leading Singapore companies. It was proposed to create a joint Investment Fund for the transformation and restructuring of state-owned enterprises, their subsequent IPO and attracting foreign investment.
Attracting advanced "green" technologies and digital solutions was defined as the third priority. The implementation of Singapore’s achievements in the field of digitization, as well as the possibilities of applying this country’s innovations and technologies for "green" development, were discussed.
The fourth is the improvement of city infrastructure and communications. Activities on cooperation in the fields of urban planning and construction, as well as the communal economy, were agreed upon. The first step in this regard was the agreement on the establishment of a joint design and engineering center for the implementation of infrastructure and network projects in Uzbekistan.
Within the framework of the fifth direction of cooperation, the importance of expanding investments and mutual trade, and promotion of joint projects with leading companies of Singapore was noted.
An agreement was reached on the establishment of the Uzbekistan-Singapore investment company with a charter capital of $500 million.
In addition, the parties exchanged views on current issues of the international and regional agenda.
The negotiations were followed by a bilateral document exchange ceremony.
In the presence of the heads of delegations, 8 documents aimed at further expansion of Uzbekistan-Singapore cooperation were exchanged at the level of governments, ministries and agencies of the two countries.
In the afternoon, Shavkat Mirziyoyev will visit the School of Public Policy named after Lee Kuan Yew and hold a meeting with the heads of leading Singapore companies. After concluding the meeting, the president will return to Tashkent today.
