Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- As previously reported, a delegation of Uzbekistan headed by Chairwoman of the Senate of the Oliy Majlis Tanzila Narbayeva is on an official visit to the Republic of Belarus. On 6 September, within the framework of the visit, the first business forum of business circles and women entrepreneurs of Uzbekistan and Belarus was held in Minsk.

The event was attended by business circles and business women representing almost all sectors of the economy of our country, in particular, industry and agriculture, food, pharmaceutical, cultural and humanitarian, as well as such areas as tourism and transport.

The plenary session organized within the framework of the forum on the topic “Women in business - the potential for developing business cooperation between Belarus and Uzbekistan” was opened with an introductory speech by the Chairman of the Senate of the Oliy Majlis of the Republic of Uzbekistan and the Chairman of the Council of the Republic of the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus.

Chairwoman of the Senate of the Oliy Majlis Tanzila Narbayeva admitted that the parliamentary delegation of Uzbekistan felt at home in Belarus. “In a short time, we have studied the history of Belarus even more deeply. We got acquainted with the state of the economy and the social sphere, enjoyed the culture and art of Belarus, tasted excellent Belarusian dishes. Thank you very much for this,” said Tanzila Narbayeva.

“Today’s forum opens up new opportunities for successful cooperation. And the main thing here is not numbers, not the number of agreements and contracts. The main thing here is the establishment and further development of strong friendship and good neighborliness between our countries. Judging by the responses of the forum participants, we managed to start a wonderful dialogue. Let it be a permanent, effective platform. May this platform serve to ensure a happy future for our hardworking, sincere people. After all, it unites our peoples. Both Belarusians and Uzbeks are open, good-natured, hardworking. We are very similar in this,” she added.

We have already seen the results of the First Belarusian-Uzbek Women’s Business Forum, Chairwoman of the Council of the Republic Natalya Kochanova said following the plenary session of the business forum on the theme "Women in business - the potential for developing business cooperation between Belarus and Uzbekistan", BelTA has learned.

“Our business forum is a truly unique platform where we can interact, and the results of which we have already seen,” said Natalya Kochanova.

“There is an Uzbek wisdom that says: once planting a mulberry tree, it will bear fruit for a hundred years,” the speaker emphasized. “I wish that the sprout of our interaction, planted at the First Belarusian-Uzbek Women’s Business Forum, strengthens every year and turns into a powerful tree with numerous branches - areas of cooperation, pleases with excellent results for the sake of the prosperity of our countries and peoples.”

It was noted that the expansion of cooperation in the field of light industry, the exchange of advanced technologies, the expansion of cooperation between manufacturers of fabrics, clothing, footwear, fur and leather products and the development of ties in the field of IT, entrepreneurship, the joint development of digital products, especially for women, the involvement of women in digital economy, the exchange of experience in improving the literacy and skills of women in this regard will bring equal benefits to the entrepreneurs of the two countries.

Also at the plenary session, opinions were expressed on strengthening cooperation in the field of medicine, developing the pharmaceutical industry, creating medical clusters, implementing joint projects in the food industry, chemical products for the automotive industry, processing agricultural products and tourism.

At the end of the forum, a final document (declaration) was adopted. It reflects the issues of strengthening cooperation in trade, economic, investment, scientific and technical, socio-cultural, educational, humanitarian, tourism and other areas of mutual interest.

As a result of meetings held in the B2B format between women entrepreneurs of the two countries, 42 contracts and 17 memorandums were signed for a total of US$92 million.