The event was attended by representatives of ministries and departments, companies and concerns, responsible for foreign-economic relations, investment, tourism, construction, chemistry, science, geology, pharmaceuticals, oil and gas, trade-industrial sectors.

Rt. Hon. Peter Lilley MP, Co-Chairman of UBTIC led the UK trade delegation of more than twenty companies representing different sectors of British business.

Opening the session, Minister for Foreign Economic Relations, Investment and Trade of Uzbekistan (MFERIT) Elyor Ganiev said that Uzbekistan highly rate expanding relations with Great Britain and is interested in cardinal expanding fruitful and mutual beneficial cooperation.

He said that Great Britain claimed the fifth place among foreign trade partners among the European Union states in 2011, but he added that the countries have great opportunities and reserves for expanding mutual trade and its nomenclature.

Elyor Ganiev also underlined that Great Britain is leader among the EU states on number of created enterprises in Uzbekistan. He said that about 450 companies with British capital work in Uzbekistan now.

The Uzbek official with satisfaction noted positive trend of development of trade-economic and investment cooperation between two days. He said that Uzbekistan and Great Britain started to implement several investment projects. He said that the sides are also working on several projects.

Mr. Ganiev stated that Uzbekistan attracted more than US$120 million of investments in independence years, of which US$40 billion were foreign direct investments.

The Uzbek minister said that Uzbekistan adopted a programme on modernization economy till 2015. He said that 520 investment projects for over US$54 billion will be implemented within the programme.

The projects are implemented in such areas as oil and gas, chemistry, petrochemical, mining, machinery, energy, pharmaceutics, light industry and others. He called British companies actively participate in these projects.

Elyor Ganiev said that investment cooperation in production sphere with use of modern British technologies and directed to joint production of goods with high added value will allow to product competitive products and serve as locomotive for economic interaction between two states.

In his turn, Co-Chairman Peter Lilley said that Great Britain pays attention to engagement of British business in Uzbekistan and recent high-profile visits of the UK officials can be evidence for that.

He noted that exports of Great Britain rose by 19% and it exports mainly equipment and capital goods to Uzbekistan. He said that this helps to development both of Uzbekistan and the UK.

Peter Lilley said that part of the UK delegation visited International Industrial Fair and Cooperation Exchange and they were impressed with its scale and level of Uzbekistan’s development.

UBTIC is the main forum for promoting the development of trade and investment relations between Uzbekistan and the United Kingdom. A key objective of the UBTIC session was to help take business links between our countries to a new level, and to increase awareness of the business opportunities in both our countries.

Investment opportunities were outlined in presentations from both sides. During the session the British companies were informed about potential for doing business in diverse fields of Uzbek economy, including oil and gas sector, chemical and petrochemical industry, mining, engineering, pharmaceutical and food industry, production of construction materials, agriculture, IT sector and tourism. The Uzbek side also briefed about the conditions created for foreign investors to implement high-tech projects in the free economic zones in the cities of Navoi and Angren.

The parties also discussed specific projects in the field of education and science (Centre for High Technologies in Tashkent to be developed in cooperation with the Cambridge University), clean development mechanism and energy saving technologies as well as in banking and financial sectors. The Uzbek and UK delegations also had the chance to build further contacts at receptions hosted by the British Embassy and the MFERIT.

Mr. Lilley said: “I am delighted we have co-chaired, with Minister Ganiev, 19th session of UBTIC in Tashkent. This has been an excellent opportunity to hear more about British companies already operating here and to discuss ways of further developing commercial links between the United Kingdom and Uzbekistan. The Commercial team at the British Embassy stands ready to assist any companies wishing to obtain further information about opportunities for doing business in Uzbekistan”.

UBTIC was established under a bilateral agreement in 1994. It comes under the umbrella of the British Government's overseas trade organisation (UKTI). UBTIC is a government-sponsored trade promotion body, which supports and assist UK businesses currently operating or wishing to operate in Uzbekistan, or invest in Uzbekistan.

UBTIC session is held annually, alternatively in Tashkent and London. Currently, UBTIC Co-chairmen are: Rt.Hon. Peter Lilley MP for British side and Mr. Elyor Ganiev, Minister for Foreign Economic Relations, Investments and Trade of Uzbekistan for Uzbek side.

According to the MFERIT, trade turnover between two states made up US$117.5 million in 2011 and US$116.1 million in January-August 2012.

Currently, there are 437 enterprises in Uzbekistan, which were created with British capital, including 112 with British investments. About 86 British companies accredited their offices at the MFERIT.