Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- The development of cooperation with the Republic of Belarus occupies an important place in the foreign policy of the Republic of Uzbekistan. Last year, our countries crossed the 30-year mark since the establishment of diplomatic relations. During this historical period, Tashkent and Minsk managed to build truly close, trusting ties.

In recent years, Uzbek-Belarusian interaction has reached an even higher level, which has made it possible to unlock the wide potential of untapped reserves in cooperation. Mainly, this became possible thanks to the active and open political dialogue established between the heads of the two states – Shavkat Mirziyoyev and Alexander Lukashenko.

Over the past 6 years, two mutual official visits have taken place.

In particular, in September 2018, the President of Belarus visited Tashkent, and in August 2019, the head of Uzbekistan visited Minsk. In addition, the leaders of the two countries regularly hold bilateral meetings in the CIS, SCO, etc. Their regular communication, including at various international platforms, sets a new tone for the relations of our states.

The exchange of delegations at various levels between countries acquired high intensity. Since 2017, more than 150 bilateral visits have been carried out and their number is growing steadily.

Over the past two years, Prime Minister of Belarus R. Golovchenko visited Tashkent twice. In 2022, the Prime Minister of Uzbekistan A. Aripov visited Minsk. In 2023, on the sidelines of the meeting of the CIS Joint State Partnership in Bishkek, a bilateral meeting of the heads of government of the two states was held.

Work is being successfully implemented through the Joint Intergovernmental Commission on Bilateral Cooperation.

To date, 10 meetings have already been held.

Expanding inter-parliamentary relations are of particular importance in promoting constructive cooperation. Much credit for this belongs to the Interparliamentary Cooperation Groups between the Oliy Majlis of the Republic of Uzbekistan and the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus.

In September 2023, a parliamentary delegation of Uzbekistan headed by the Chairman of the Senate of the Oliy Majlis, Tanzila Narbaeva, visited Minsk. During the meeting, memorandums of cooperation were signed between the upper chambers, youth parliaments, and women’s institutions.

The steps taken by the parliaments of Uzbekistan and Belarus to deepen cooperation create opportunities for effective parliamentary control over the implementation of agreements reached in the field of economy, trade and industry.

The flagship of the development of Uzbek-Belarusian interaction today continues to be trade, economic and investment partnership, which is confirmed by the steady growth of bilateral trade turnover.

Thanks to joint efforts, for the first time in the history of relations between Uzbekistan and Belarus, the level of mutual trade exceeded the half-billion mark. At the end of 2022, bilateral trade turnover amounted to US$536 million (an increase of 44% compared to 2021) and increased almost 3.5 times compared to 2017. At the end of 2023, its volume increased by another 15% compared to 2022 and amounted to US$620 million. There are immediate plans to increase its level to US$1 billion.

The main export items of Uzbekistan to Belarus are industrial goods, various finished products, food products, drinks and tobacco products. At the end of 2023, supplies of Uzbek textiles to Belarus increased significantly and amounted to 21% of the total structure of our exports to this country.

The bulk of imports from the Republic of Belarus are food products, machinery and transport equipment, as well as non-food raw materials. At the same time, most of the imports account for vehicles and electrical equipment necessary for modernizing the industrial sector of the economy of Uzbekistan.

Belarus plays an important role in ensuring food security, in particular, 17% of Belarusian imports to the Republic of Uzbekistan come from meat supplies, and 7% from dairy products.

Belarusian investors are showing significant interest in the Uzbek market, investing heavily in the production of cotton yarn, building materials, pharmaceuticals, leather goods, and the provision of trade intermediary and freight forwarding services.

Belarus’ investments in the economy of Uzbekistan have increased threefold over the past three years and amounted to US$45.6 million. At the same time, there are all the prerequisites for increasing this indicator.

Such dynamics of economic interaction became possible, among other things, thanks to the constant expansion of interregional ties.

In 2019, our countries held the Uzbek-Belarusian Forum of Regions for the first time, which opened up new opportunities for the formation of strong ties in the field of industrial cooperation, agriculture, and the food industry. As a result, export contracts worth US$200 million and investment and cooperation projects worth US$75 million were signed.

The practical impact of such cooperation was not long in coming. Thanks to the agreements, we have entered into close cooperation in the field of agriculture. The First Uzbek-Belarusian Agrarian Forum, organized in 2020, made it possible to unite representatives of government bodies, science and business, agricultural producers, equipment suppliers and investors of the two countries on a single platform.

About 150 Belarusian entrepreneurs and organizations, as well as more than 600 representatives of the business community of Uzbekistan took part in the large-scale event. Its result was the signing of contracts for the supply of Uzbek agricultural products to Belarus for US$25 million.

In addition, the agreements reached gave dynamics to the work of special partnership programs between the khokimiyats of the regions of Uzbekistan and the regions of Belarus. In 2022-2023, visits were organized to Belarus by the administration and business circles of Tashkent, Kashkadarya, Andijan, Fergana and Tashkent regions.

As part of intensifying the business dialogue between Uzbekistan and Belarus, the first joint Women’s Business Forum was organized in 2023. As a result, 42 contracts were signed for a total amount of US$92.2 million and 17 memorandums of cooperation in trade, economic, investment, scientific, technical, socio-cultural, educational, humanitarian, tourism and other fields.

The developed mechanisms of bilateral interaction have opened up great prospects for strengthening ties between large and small businesses in Uzbekistan and Belarus

Since the economies of the two countries have a complementary structure, expanding trade and economic cooperation will continue to remain a priority area of our interaction.

At the same time, it is necessary to work more actively to deepen industrial cooperation and create joint competitive and export-oriented production. There is already a solid foundation for this, as evidenced by the unprecedented increase in the number of joint ventures in recent years.

If in 2017 the number of companies operating in Uzbekistan with the participation of Belarusian capital was 22, including 19 joint ventures, and 3 individual entrepreneurs, today their number has increased to 209, including 63 joint ventures and 146 individual entrepreneurs, an increase of almost 10 times. In turn, more than 100 joint ventures are currently operating in Belarus.

Such interaction creates completely new prerequisites for the development of bilateral industrial and technological partnership in a number of key areas.

Thus, already now there is great mutual interest in the issue of developing cooperation in the field of mechanical engineering. Belarus is a supplier of tractors for the rapidly developing agricultural sector of our country. In 2023, Uzbekistan imported more than 3.5 thousand tractors from Belarus.

On the agenda is the issue of launching a joint assembly enterprise for the production of MTZ agricultural machinery in Uzbekistan.

Thanks to joint cooperation, light industry is one of the key links in the Uzbek-Belarusian partnership.

In mid-2020, the UzShoes footwear production enterprise was launched in Karshi, created in collaboration with the Belarusian Leather and Shoe Company Marko. Today the company employs 350 people, producing 500 thousand pairs of products per year. There are immediate plans to increase production to 1 million pairs.

There are also partnership projects for the development of livestock breeding and dairy production. In 2022, the Ministry of Agriculture of Uzbekistan and the Ministry of Agriculture and Food of Belarus signed an agreement on cooperation between Belplemjivoobedinenie and the Uzbekchorvanasl agency in the field of livestock breeding. In the same year, Yuldosh Consult LLC and Luninsky Dairy Plant JSC agreed to create a Belarusian-Uzbek enterprise for the production of dairy products in Tashkent.

Using their resources and accumulated experience, Tashkent and Minsk began to develop new areas of cooperation. As an example, we can note the agreements reached in 2023 between textile enterprises of Uzbekistan and Belarus in the amount of more than US$2.5 million. It is planned to create a joint venture for the production of sheepskin-fur, astrakhan, fur and fur raw materials. An agreement was reached on cooperation between the Uztekstilprom association and the design center of Kamvol OJSC.

Taking into account the great popularity of Uzbek vegetables and fruits, negotiations are underway to open a wholesale logistics center in Minsk, which will supply fresh products from Uzbekistan to the markets of Belarus. The organization of centralized supplies will significantly simplify the procurement process, allowing Belarusian small businesses to purchase Uzbek products directly in their country, while saving time and resources that they spend on organizing travel and purchasing products themselves.

The pharmaceutical industry is becoming one of the key areas in the development of bilateral cooperation. Today, Tashkent and Minsk are already jointly producing medicines; an enterprise for the production of probiotics has been opened in Uzbekistan. A number of projects are also being implemented to produce antibiotics and medicines that have not yet been produced in our country.

There are plans to expand the list of pharmaceutical products produced.

Such multilateral cooperation will undoubtedly contribute to the development of the national industry of Uzbekistan and Belarus, will create new jobs, and expand opportunities for joint entry into the markets of third countries.

The spiritual bond of bilateral relations today is an established cultural and humanitarian dialogue. The versatility of Uzbek-Belarusian ties is predetermined by the intersection of historical processes that played a decisive role in the mutual enrichment of two cultures and the socio-economic symbiosis of peoples.

Cultural exchanges have become regular events. A special role in strengthening humanitarian contacts is played by the “Days of Culture and Art of Uzbekistan”, which are held on the territory of Belarus, and the “Days of Culture and Cinema of Belarus” in Uzbekistan.

In this, the two countries are unique. Mutual respect for cultures, traditions and customs, the desire to understand each other’s spiritual essence and mentality are of great importance in Uzbek-Belarusian relations. Among the peoples of the two countries, mutual interest in the study of national characteristics, culture, art, cinema, theater and literature is growing noticeably.

It is significant that in Tashkent a street was named in honor of the outstanding classic of Belarusian literature Yakub Kolas and a monument was erected. And in one of the parks in Minsk there is a bust of the great Uzbek poet, thinker and statesman Alisher Navoi.

In September 2021, the Days of Uzbek Cinema were organized in Minsk, during which a number of new films by Uzbek filmmakers were presented. In November, the Uzbek creative delegation took part in the XXVII Minsk International Film Festival “Listapad”. The film “Ilhak” by Uzbek director D. Akhmedov, shot in collaboration with Belarusian filmmakers, became the winner of the film festival and received the Grand Prix “Gold of Leaf Fall”. He was also noted by the President of Belarus and awarded a special prize on his behalf “For humanism and spirituality in cinema.”

In 2021, cooperation between the Cinematography Agency of Uzbekistan and the Belarusfilm film studio intensified. Agreements have been reached and are being implemented on the joint implementation of three film projects.

In 2023, the premiere of the joint Belarusian-Uzbek film “Uzbek” took place, the release of the film “Kazbek” is expected, and joint filming of the documentary “Yakub Kolas: The Book of Tashkent Existence” is underway.

Cooperation between the writers’ unions of Belarus and Uzbekistan is developing. In October 2021, the Belarusian-Uzbek “Literary Bridge of Friendship” took place, bringing together representatives of the creative intelligentsia and diplomatic corps of both countries.

A significant event was the creation in 2023 of the Belarus-Uzbekistan society in the Belarusian society of friendship and cultural relations with foreign countries, designed to become better acquainted with the culture, history and traditions of Uzbekistan.

The achieved level of bilateral interaction in the field of education and training of young personnel, primarily in engineering and technical specialties, deserves special attention. Over the past 4 years alone, the number of Uzbek students studying at Belarusian universities has increased from 400 to 2 thousand people.

About 40 universities in Uzbekistan and more than 20 universities in Belarus have launched joint educational programs to train specialists in the areas most in demand in Uzbekistan. An important impetus for this was the Agreement signed in 2019 between the governments of our states on the mutual recognition of educational documents, qualifications and scientific degrees.

Since 2020, the joint Belarusian-Uzbek Intersectoral Institute of Applied Technical Qualifications has been operating in Tashkent, where a total of 1,428 students study.

Moreover, today more than 80 joint educational programs are being implemented, under which students undergo training and receive dual diplomas - from the Republic of Belarus and the Republic of Uzbekistan.

There are also more than 200 cooperation agreements between the universities of our states, within the framework of which research work is carried out and experience is exchanged. 54 scientific projects have been implemented in such areas as information technology, chemistry, agriculture and medicine.

There are another 30 such joint initiatives at the implementation stage. Much credit for this belongs to the Joint Uzbek-Belarusian Commission for Cooperation in the Field of Science.

An indicator of fruitful cooperation between the two states in the field of education and science was the First Forum of Rectors of the Republic of Uzbekistan and the Republic of Belarus held in Minsk in 2023. More than 30 heads of Belarusian and Uzbek universities discussed current issues in the development of higher education systems in the two countries. As a result of the conference, 27 interuniversity agreements were signed, as well as a “Road Map for Cooperation for 2023-2025.”

Close cooperation has been established between Tashkent and Minsk in the field of healthcare. On the basis of an agreement between the ministries of health of the two countries, an Action Plan for the development of cooperation is being implemented. Over the past two years, the practice of training Uzbek doctors in Belarus in providing high-tech care to newborns has been established.

At the end of last year, the first Medical Forum “Days of Healthcare and Medical Education Uzbekistan - Belarus” was held. As a result, over 120 agreements in the field of joint development of medicine were signed.

At the development stage, bilateral programs in postgraduate areas, exchange of experience in neonatal surgery, cardiac surgery, and organ transplantation. The practice of expanding cooperation between specific medical centers is being developed.

Uzbekistan and Belarus have unique opportunities and potential for cooperation in the tourism sector. Representatives of the tourism industry of the two countries carry out close interaction within the framework of exhibition sites organized in both countries. Practical results were achieved following the results of the first Tourism Forum with the participation of tourism industry operators of the two countries, organized in 2020. Thanks to common efforts, the tourist flow from Belarus to Uzbekistan increased 5 times from 2017 to 2023, exceeding 15 thousand people today.

In general, the existing multifaceted interaction between Tashkent and Minsk lays the foundation for further deepening mutually beneficial contacts between the two countries.

Today there are all the prerequisites to strengthen work in a variety of directions. For this, there is political will, mutual interest and large untapped reserves for building up bilateral ties.

Iroda Imamova,
Leading Researcher
Institute for Strategic and Interregional Studies
under the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan