On February 22 of this year, the 5th meeting of the Uzbek-Finnish Intergovernmental Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific and Technical Cooperation (IGC) was held in Tashkent under the chairmanship of Minister of Investment, Industry and Foreign Trade of the Republic of Uzbekistan Laziz Kudratov and Minister for Development Cooperation and Foreign Trade Ville Skinnari.

During the meeting, issues of further development of cooperation in investment, industrial, trade, economic, cultural and humanitarian areas were discussed and agreed upon.

In their speeches, the heads of delegations stressed the existence of significant potential for increasing bilateral cooperation in priority sectors, the importance of attracting advanced Finnish experience and technological developments, as well as the commitment of the two states to continue the systematic expansion of cooperation in areas of mutual interest.

The parties agreed to expand institutional cooperation, including through the Public Sector Investment Facility of the Export Credit Agency Finnvera (allocates long-term soft loans up to $30 million, of which 30% are in the form of grants) and the Finnish Industrial Cooperation Finfund (provides project and investment financing to private companies).

Within the framework of the IGC meeting, the heads of delegations held a meeting in a narrow format. During the talks, special emphasis was placed on further joint actions to develop investment and industrial cooperation between entrepreneurs of Uzbekistan and Finland based on the competitive advantages of the two countries.

In this context, the most promising areas noted were mining, alternative energy, agriculture, food industry, education, digital transformation.

At the end of the meeting, the parties expressed mutual commitment to deepening cooperation within the discussed areas, stressing that the synergy of innovative know-how
and scientific developments of Finland with the infrastructure and human resources potential of Uzbekistan will contribute to the stable development of multifaceted cooperation between the two countries.