Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- On 18-21 October, the Working Group of the Ministry of Investment and Foreign Trade visited the Republic of Korea, where it held a series of meetings and negotiations with representatives of ministries and departments of Korea, company management to discuss the current state and prospects strengthening bilateral trade, economic and investment cooperation.

In particular, during working meetings with representatives of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, the prospects for trade, economic and investment cooperation, as well as the development of e-commerce in the Republic of Uzbekistan, were discussed. Over the past five years, trade has doubled to reach US$1.8 billion in 2021 and US$1.6 billion between January and August 2022. An agreement was reached to intensify work on signing a Free Trade Agreement between the two countries.

Consistent expansion of investment cooperation was noted. Currently, about 100 investment projects totaling more than US$14 billion are being implemented in Uzbekistan jointly with Korean companies. The parties agreed to introduce a new interaction mechanism based on a monthly Uzbek-Korean virtual commercial dialogue to solve pressing problems and accelerate the implementation of joint projects.

During negotiations with the leadership of the Korean companies KTNet and the Korean Institute of Technology Development, the prospects for the development of the electronic trading platform tradeuz.com were discussed as part of the "4th stage of the project to create the National electronic trading platform in Uzbekistan." 

It was noted that the TradeUZ.com National Electronic Commerce Platform currently has information on 3,000 Uzbek exporters, 10,000 foreign buyers, and more than 5,000 items of goods. An agreement was reached to make joint efforts to attract more customers and suppliers, increase the information content and the number of interactive services provided through this site, including transport and logistics services.

Also, working meetings were held with the Eximbank of Korea and the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), during which issues of implementation of existing ones, as well as prospects for expanding the investment presence of these financial institutions in Uzbekistan, were discussed. The parties confirmed their readiness to take the necessary measures for the timely implementation of 8 projects worth US$50.6 million in the areas of education, advanced training of Uzbek specialists and stimulating entrepreneurship growth, as well as projects under the Financial and Technical Cooperation Program for 2022-2024.

As a result of the meetings, a program of specific practical measures was formed to strengthen cooperation with Korean partners in order to fully implement the discussed projects and initiatives.