Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- Deputy Minister of Investment and Foreign Trade Shukhrat Vafayev held talks with a delegation of the French Development Agency (Agence Française de Développement, AFD) led by Executive Director for Operations Jean-Pierre Marcelli to discuss the current state and prospects of cooperation.

Jean-Pierre Marcelli highly appreciated the large-scale reforms being carried out in Uzbekistan, and also expressed the readiness of the AFD to continue expanding financial, investment and advisory support to the processes of economic transformations in Uzbekistan.

The parties substantively discussed the progress in the implementation of joint investment projects, and also noted with satisfaction the signing of a new partnership program with Uzbekistan for 2021-2025, which provides for the financing of 12 new projects worth more than 1.2 billion euros.

During the talks, cooperation in the areas of housing and communal services, ecology, highways and the private sector was also discussed.

The parties outlined joint goals to expand cooperation in the field of financing small and medium-sized businesses.

As a result of the meeting, an agreement was reached in the near future to sign a loan agreement with AFD on financing the project "Inclusive and Climate Investments in the Livestock Sector" with the attraction of concessional long-term funds of the French side in the amount of 100 million euros.