Despite the fact that Azerbaijan is not yet among Uzbekistan’s major trading partners, everything can be fixed in a fairly short time. This is particularly evidenced by the frequent contacts between the heads of states and a strong growth of the trade turnover. These plans will be further strengthened by the commencement of the 523-km (325-mile) km long railway construction between China, Kyrgyz Republic and Uzbekistan in 2023, President of the Kyrgyz Republic Sadyr Japarov said. A possible connection with Baku-Tbilisi–Kars will lead to further intensification of economic cooperation between all countries of the region.
A visible progress in implementation of the agreements, reached at the high-level meetings held in June of this year, was stressed with satisfaction during the telephone conversation between the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev and the Azerbaijan Republic President Ilham Aliyev on August 23.
• A regular meeting of the joint Intergovernmental commission and the first meeting of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Transport of Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan and Turkey were held early in August.
• Mutual trade turnover has increased by 70% this year. The implementation of joint cooperation projects in the field of agriculture, sericulture and textile industry, mechanical engineering, chemical and other industries has begun.
• The work is underway to launch the Uzbek-Azerbaijani investment fund as soon as possible. Cultural and humanitarian exchange is expanding.
On August 23, President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev approved a number of agreements with Uzbekistan, the website of the head of state reports.
In particular, approved were the intergovernmental Agreement on cooperation in the military sphere, Agreement on inter-regional cooperation, Agreement on cooperation in combating illegal migration and Agreement on cooperation in the industrial sphere.
All agreements were signed on June 21, 2022 in Tashkent during the official visit of the President of Azerbaijan to Uzbekistan.
President Ilham Aliyev also approved an agreement on cooperation in the field of archival affairs between the National Archives Department of Azerbaijan and the “Uzarchiv” Agency of Uzbekistan, signed on June 20, 2022 in Tashkent.
Innovative cooperation
In January - July 2022, Uzbekistan’s foreign trade turnover increased by 29.2% and totaled $28.1 billion compared to the same period of last year ($21.8 billion), Trend reports with reference to the State Statistics Committee of Uzbekistan.
According to the Committee, Uzbekistan’s foreign trade turnover with the CIS countries amounted to $10.4 billion in January - July 2022, increasing by 26.7% compared to the same period in 2021 ($8.2 billion).
Uzbekistan’s foreign trade turnover with other countries in the specified period increased by 30.6%, up to $17.7 billion compared to January - July 2021 ($13.6 billion).
During the reporting period, export of goods and services from Uzbekistan totaled $11.3 billion, and imports - $16.8 billion.
China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkiye, the Republic of Korea, Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan were the largest trading partners of Uzbekistan in January - July 2022.
• In particular, in the years 2018-2022 the Ministry of Innovative Development raised investments worth $58.5 million to implement 44 investment projects (including foreign investments worth $33.1 million). In addition, 372 scientific developments were commercialized, products worth 235.3 billion UZS were produced and services worth 228.8 billion UZS were provided. 105 startup-companies worth 80 billion UZS were created.
• Also, the successful implementation of the «2019-2021 Innovative Development Strategy of the Republic of Uzbekistan» let our republic move up, compared to 2015, by 36 positions in the Global Innovation Index ranking which is evaluated by 81 indicators. So, Uzbekistan took the 86th position among 132 countries in the GII ranking announced in 2021.
• Such results are certainly associated with established conditions and relevant factors. That is to say, today the volume of annual funds allocated from the state budget to the fields of innovation and science has tripled compared to 2018, reaching 1.5 trillion UZS. As the result, the number of young scientists in the country today is 10,800 people.
• The seminar presented 19 new innovative infrastructure facilities, such as a business incubator, a technopark, a business accelerator, a coworking center, and 8 information systems for digitalization of innovative development were introduced (grant.mininnovation.uz, ias.gov.uz, nsp.gov.uz, anjumanlar.uz, phd.mininnovation.uz, antiplag.uz, innoweek.uz, slib.uz).
• Currently, 784 local projects with a total value of about 1.2 trillion UZS have been selected, and implementation of another 98 international joint projects (equal partnership projects) worth 98.3 billion UZS is carried out on the basis of the state program.
• The «2022-2026 Innovative Development Strategy of the Republic of Uzbekistan» adopted in this direction as an important document covering all reforms creates an opportunity for purposeful implementation of the tasks set.
