Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- On 26 December, an Uzbek-Turkish business forum was held in Ankara. This was reported by the Ministry of Economy and Finance of Uzbekistan.

The event was attended by Vice President of Türkiye Cevdet Yilmaz, President of the Association of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of the Republic of Türkiye (TOBB) Rifat Hisarchiklioglu, President of the Council for Foreign Economic Relations (DEIK) N. Olpak, Deputy Prime Minister - Minister of Economy and Finance of the Republic of Uzbekistan Jamshid Kuchkarov and about 300 business representatives.

As part of the business forum, the Uzbek side, the Ministry of Mining and Geology, the Agency for Management of State Assets, the Ministry of Health, JSC Uzkimyosanoat, and the Uzbekzargarsanoati Association held presentations for business forum participants on the opportunities created for foreign entrepreneurs in these areas.

It was noted that over the past 5 years, trade turnover between Uzbekistan and Türkiye has increased 1.5 times. Today, about 1,800 enterprises with the participation of Turkish investments are successfully operating in Uzbekistan.

In this regard, the leaders of Uzbekistan and Türkiye announced their readiness to mobilize all their efforts to increase the volume of trade between the two countries to US$5 billion.

Participants of the event noted that special attention should be paid to promising areas for the development of cooperation between the two countries, in particular, pharmaceuticals, leather and footwear, jewelry, production of building materials, furniture, and glass products.

At the end of the business forum, a ceremony was held to sign several agreements, including a memorandum of understanding between the Uzcharmpoyabzal Association and TASEV (Turkish Foundation for the Development of Research and Education in the Footwear Industry), a cooperation agreement totaling US$70 million between Uzpromstroybank and Citibank A.S., an export agreement in the amount of US$10 million between MAREN Moda and IDEAL TEKSTIL ORZU LLC, MENDERES EXPORT TEKSTIL LIMITED SIRKETI and ART SOFT XOLDING LLC entered into an investment contract in the amount of US$250 million.