Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- The twenty-fourth meeting of the Intergovernmental Commission on Economic Cooperation between Russia and Uzbekistan was held in Moscow.

The meeting was attended by a Russian delegation led by Denis Manturov, Deputy Prime Minister of Russia and Minister of Industry and Trade of Russia, and a delegation of Uzbekistan led by Jamshid Khojaev, Deputy Prime Minister.

At the meeting, issues of trade and economic, interregional, fuel and energy, investment, industrial, agricultural, information and communication, financial and banking, transport and logistics and cultural and humanitarian cooperation between the two countries were discussed.

Mutual trade is considered one of the most dynamically developing areas of their cooperation. The parties reached agreements aimed at increasing the efficiency of mutual trade.

Dmitry Volvach, Deputy Minister of Economic Development of Russia, noted: “Bilateral cooperation between Russia and Uzbekistan is developing intensively. Uzbekistan actively participates in global integration processes, having the status of an observer state in the EAEU for three years. Trade between the countries is trending positively, with growth of 11.5% in the first nine months of 2023. It is expected that trade volume will reach US$9-9.5 billion by the end of the year.”

Attention was also paid to interregional partnership, which is recognized as an important area of cooperation.

The parties decided to continue holding such successful events as the III Forum of Interregional Cooperation between Russia and Uzbekistan in Kazan. The forum was attended by more than 700 business representatives from 19 regions of Russia and 12 regions of Uzbekistan, with the signing of 9 commercial documents totaling more than 28 billion rubles.

During the meeting, issues of investment and energy cooperation were also discussed. The parties, Russia and Uzbekistan, emphasized their common interest in developing long-term cooperation in these areas, and also showed interest in the formation of joint projects in the transport and logistics sector, industry, petrochemicals and energy.

Dmitry Volvach expressed gratitude for the constant interaction with Uzbek partners and noted the successful conduct of a business mission of Russian agricultural enterprises in Tashkent in April of this year. As part of this mission, more than 300 negotiations were held in b2b format.

The positive results of this mission had a positive impact on the development of the Agroexpress project.

Volvach emphasized that such successful practice of developing regional economic cooperation is planned to be extended to other CIS countries.

As a result of the meeting of the Intergovernmental Commission, the parties signed a “road map” in the field of supporting investment projects, based on Russian experience.

A memorandum of understanding was also signed between the ministries of economic development of the two countries regarding the creation of an Expert Center for Strategic Initiatives.

In addition, the parties entered into a memorandum of understanding between the Federal Corporation for the Development of Small and Medium Enterprises of Russia and one of the commercial banks of Uzbekistan in order to implement projects in the field of industrial cooperation and integration of digital systems.