Uzbekistan, Hungary discuss development of trade-economic relations
16/07/2020 20:25
Uzbekistan, Hungary discuss development of trade-economic relations
16/07/2020 20:25
Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- On 16 July 2020, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Hungary Péter Szijjártó met with the Deputy Prime Minister - Minister of Investment and Foreign Trade of the Republic of Uzbekistan Sardor Umurzakov in Tashkent.
During the meeting, the sides discussed trends in the development of the global epidemiological situation, as well as measures taken by the governments of the two countries to counter the spread of coronavirus and mitigate the economic consequences of the pandemic.
Péter Szijjártó expressed his sincere gratitude for the humanitarian assistance provided by Uzbekistan in the fight against the pandemic, stressing at the same time that the assistance to Uzbekistan was the largest in terms of volume among all humanitarian cargo received by Hungary from other countries.
In the spring of this year, Uzbekistan sent 650,000 protective medical masks to Hungary as humanitarian aid to counter the spread of coronavirus and protect the population.
The broad agenda of bilateral cooperation in investment, trade and financial spheres was also considered. The Hungarian side noted the growing interest of entrepreneurs in the development of investment cooperation and industrial cooperation with Uzbek companies. In order to effectively use the existing potential in this area, an agreement was reached to provide comprehensive mutual assistance in the implementation of already launched projects, as well as to join efforts to develop new projects of industrial cooperation in the fruit and vegetable and textile industries, as well as in the production of building materials.
Cooperation in the pharmaceutical industry has a special priority, in the opinion of the parties, meaning the creation of full-cycle joint production of drugs based on the developments of leading Hungarian companies.
The significant progress achieved in building up mutual trade was emphasized - only by the results of 5 months of this year, the indicators of trade turnover demonstrate a confident 40 percent growth in relation to the same period last year. In this context, on a reciprocal basis, the importance of joint work on the implementation of the "Road Map" to bring trade with Hungary to US$100 million was emphasized, which was agreed upon following the meeting of the heads of the two states within the framework of the meeting of the Cooperation Council of Turkic Speaking States (CCTS) in October last year. Also in this context, the prospects for the creation of an Uzbek-Hungarian trading house in Hungary were discussed.
Concrete steps were outlined in the development of partnership in the banking and financial sector - the prospects for opening a Hungarian "OTP Bank" in Uzbekistan were discussed, as well as opportunities for the implementation of joint projects with the involvement of funds from the Hungarian Eximbank.
Separately, the success in the work on rapprochement of the business communities of the two countries was noted - at present, the approval of the draft document on the creation of the Uzbek-Hungarian Business Council has been completed. The activities of this structure will be aimed at further strengthening interaction between the business communities of Uzbekistan and Hungary. Also, in this direction, the organization of the cooperation exchange in the format "B2B" and "G2B" in the videoconference mode was agreed in September this year.
It was announced that Uzbekistan is ready to expand interaction in the “Uzbekistan-Hungary-EU” format as part of the promotion of the EU Strategy for Central Asia, as well as to actively cooperate within the framework of the agreement on an Enhanced Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (EPCA) between Uzbekistan and the EU, which will allow bring Uzbek-European relations to a qualitatively new level.
Following the meeting, an agreement was reached to hold the 6th meeting of the Uzbek-Hungarian Intergovernmental Commission on Economic Cooperation in November 2020 with the organization of a business forum with the participation of business circles of the two countries.
It was also agreed to create a working group, whose tasks will include the development of new investment and trade agreements, which will make it possible to establish systematic work to deepen bilateral ties.
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