On July 13 this year, Deputy Prime Minister - Minister of Investments and Foreign Trade of the Republic of Uzbekistan Sardor Umurzakov met with Deputy Chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers of Turkmenistan Batyr Atdayev in Bukhara as part of the visit of a government delegation and business circles of Turkmenistan.

During the meeting, the sides discussed topical issues of bilateral partnership in the fields of industrial cooperation, trade, transport and logistics.

A positive assessment was given to the development of industrial relations between manufacturers of the two countries. At the moment there are 173 enterprises with Turkmen capital operating in Uzbekistan. At the same time, the presence of significant potential for increasing the number of joint projects on the territory of the two countries in agriculture, production of construction materials, automotive, textile, pharmaceutical and electrical industries, production of passenger cars, as well as in the chemical industry was emphasized, bearing in mind the modernization of enterprises and the expansion of the range of products produced jointly. A common position was expressed on the need for close work in order to increase the number of mutually beneficial industrial cooperation projects by actively involving entrepreneurs of the two countries in business cooperation.

There was also a steady increase in trade turnover between the two countries, which increased by 67% in 2021. The parties confirmed their commitment to bringing the volume of trade turnover to $2 billion in the near future. In this context, the parties agreed to accelerate the launch of the border trade zones "Lebap – Bukhara" and "Dashoguz – Khorezm".

Joint measures to develop transport and logistics ties and increase the transit potential of the two countries were discussed. Impressive indicators in this area were noted: last year, the growth rate of cargo transportation between Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan amounted to 2.2 million tons, which in terms of rail and road transport amounted to 50 and 300 percent growth compared to the previous year. In this context, mechanisms for improvement the conditions of tariff regulation of direct and transit traffic, as well as joint actions to diversify transport routes were discussed.

At the end of the meeting, the sides expressed their mutual readiness to further advance the agreements reached as well as projects and initiatives discussed.