Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- On 8 February, Tashkent hosted the Uzbekistan-Slovenia business forum with the participation of heads of key ministries, departments, industry associations and more than 100 representatives of the business community of the two countries.

The Uzbek delegation at the Forum was headed by Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Uzbekistan Jamshid Khodjaev, and the Slovenian delegation was headed by Deputy Prime Minister - Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Slovenia Tanja Fajon.

In their welcoming speeches, the heads of delegations noted the timeliness of the intensification of bilateral cooperation, including in mutual trade, and the leading role of active interaction of business circles in this context.

The positive dynamics of foreign trade turnover, which has increased by almost 40% in volume over the past year, was emphasized. This became possible due largely to Uzbekistan’s beneficiary status of Generalized System of Preferences "GSP+". To increase the indicators in foreign trade, the parties agreed on the issues of providing the necessary additional conditions for the business circles of the two countries. The agreements were sealed by the conclusion of the Agreement on Economic Cooperation between Uzbekistan and Slovenia during the current business forum.

In addition, during the presentations and dialogues of business circles, the prospects for establishing partnerships in the automotive industry, production of components, metal products, hydraulic turbines, pumps and joint production of pharmaceuticals were considered. The possibilities of creating an agro-industrial complex for the implementation of joint projects for the development of animal husbandry, horticulture and seed production, as well as organizing the activities of a branch of a large Slovenian retail chain Mercator Group in Uzbekistan were discussed.

A bilateral meeting in a narrow format between the heads of delegations was also held on the sidelines of the forum, during which the most pressing issues of the development of bilateral trade, economic, investment, transport and logistics cooperation and prospects for increasing the scale of industrial cooperation between Uzbekistan and Slovenia were discussed.

At the end of the event, the participants expressed their commitment to further strengthening economic cooperation between Uzbekistan and Slovenia, establishing strong business contacts and providing comprehensive support to entrepreneurs in the implementation of joint projects and initiatives.

The Forum continued with a session of "B2B" and "B2G" negotiations, during which the parties were able to exchange views and proposals in the context of developing new investment projects and establishing close trade relations, which is designed to bring cooperation between our countries to a new level of practical interaction.