“We give a high assessment of our bilateral economic ties. Our bilateral trade grew last year. Our figures put it at around US$4 billion, and our Uzbekistani colleagues put it at US $7 billion. Of course we can clarify these figures, but one thing is clear and that is that our trade is growing, especially this year, where we already have an increase of 20% over January alone,” he said.

“Russia is in first place among Uzbekistan’s foreign trade partners. We account for almost 30 percent of Uzbekistan’s foreign trade, and Uzbekistan is among Russia’s top five economic partners in the CIS region,” the Russian leader noted.

He said that the conditions have been agreed in principle for Uzbekistan’s accession to the Commonwealth of Independent States Free Trade Zone Agreement, and this is an important step. “We expect that the according protocol will be signed at the upcoming meeting of the CIS Council of Heads of Government in Minsk on 31 May,” he said.

“Investment cooperation is also gathering pace. Total Russian investment in Uzbekistan’s economy over the last five years comes to around US$6 billion,” Vladimir Putin underlined.

“Around 850 joint ventures operate in Uzbekistan, as well as the accredited branches of more than 100 Russian companies, including Gazprom, LUKOIL and others,” Russian head stated.

Russian leader said: “The intergovernmental economic cooperation programme for 2013-2017 that we just signed will encourage reciprocal capital flows and create reliable legal protection for investors from both countries, as will the agreement on incentives and mutual protection of investment”.

“Interregional cooperation plays a big part in strengthening our bilateral ties. Seventy Russian regions have close cooperation ties with partners in Uzbekistan. The most active in this area are Moscow, Voronezh Region, Bashkortostan, Chelyabinsk, Irkutsk and Sverdlovsk Regions, and St Petersburg,” – Putin added.