Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- At the invitation of the Federal President of Germany Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev was on a working visit to this country on 28-30 September 2023.

On 29 September, the Leader of Uzbekistan took part in the summit of the heads of states of Central Asia and Germany, where in his speech he paid special attention to priority areas of practical partnership, primarily in the field of high technology and innovative development, transport communications, green energy, vocational education, active cultural and academic exchanges.

With deep satisfaction, the Head of Uzbekistan highlighted the expansion of the presence of leading German companies and banks in Uzbekistan.

Over the past six years, Uzbek-German relations have been developing at a rapid pace. Germany is among the ten largest partner countries of Uzbekistan in foreign trade and ranks 6th with a share of 3.2% of total trade turnover after China (18.1%), Russia (15.1%), Kazakhstan (7.5 %), Turkey (5.1%) and Korea (3.6%).

Thanks to joint efforts over the years, trade turnover between the two countries has increased 2.2 times (from almost US$530 million to US$1.2 billion).

At the end of the second quarter of 2023, trade turnover with Germany increased 1.7 times from US$557.8 million to US$928.8 million. At the same time, the parties intend to double mutual trade in the coming years due to diversification and expansion of its range.

This will also be served by the EU General System of Preferences (GSP+), which allows Uzbekistan to import more than 6 thousand types of goods into European markets without paying duty.

Particular attention was paid to the development of investment cooperation between the two countries. In particular, the volume of German investments in the economy of Uzbekistan has reached US$5.5 billion, four of which have been attracted over the past few years.

About a hundred joint projects worth more than US$10 billion are being implemented with German partners.

Since 2016, the number of enterprises created in Uzbekistan with the participation of German capital has increased 3 times and amounted to more than 200.

In just 6 months of this year, 17 joint ventures were launched. Large companies such as Siemens, BASF, Thyssen Group, Roland Berger, Adidas Group, Papenburg, Falk Porsche are actively operating in the Uzbek market.

This dynamics of development of Uzbek-German economic cooperation once again convincingly proves that two friendly countries are opening new horizons of mutually beneficial cooperation every year.

The dialogue platform in the “Germany - Central Asia” format will undoubtedly give a powerful impetus to the expansion of mutually beneficial cooperation between the countries of Central Asia and Germany, as well as other countries of the European Union.

In accordance with the business program, the Head of Uzbekistan took part in the economic forum organized by the Eastern Committee of the German Economy.

In order to support regional projects, the President of our country proposed holding a Central Asian exhibition of high industrial technologies from leading German manufacturers in Uzbekistan.

Among the most important areas of partnership is “green” energy. The head of Uzbekistan noted the successful experience and promising cooperation projects with German partners in the development of alternative energy.

At the regional level, it was proposed to develop and adopt a Cooperation Program with German engineering and design centers and industrial holdings for the implementation of green economy projects.

The head of state touched upon the importance of joint projects in the field of critical raw materials with the introduction of advanced technological solutions in their processing and organizing the export of industrial products.

The practical implementation of these initiatives and agreements will strengthen economic cooperation, expand trade turnover, attract additional investments in various areas, which will create new jobs and, ultimately, help improve the living conditions of the population of Central Asian countries.

Shavkat Alimbekov

Leading Researcher,

International Institute of Central Asia