On July 21 this year, Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Uzbekistan S. Umurzakov negotiated with Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the People's Republic of China in Uzbekistan Jiang Yan via video-conferencing. The conversation touched upon bilateral cooperation in countering the pandemic, as well as a number of aspects of current and further cooperation in investment, trade and transport.

The Government of the People's Republic of China was thanked for the humanitarian assistance and sending of a group of Chinese doctors to Uzbekistan to assist Uzbek doctors in combating the pandemic and treating patients with COVID-19.

The parties also emphasized an invaluable role of Chinese specialists who arrived in Uzbekistan to implement investment projects, despite the current epidemiological situation.

During the conversation, the parties expressed their intentions to continue close joint work to further build up trade, economic, and investment cooperation between Uzbekistan and the PRC to achieve common goals.

They emphasized the high interest of Chinese investors and entrepreneurs in the projects in Uzbekistan in the oil and gas, chemical, construction, pharmaceutical, and light industries, as well as the high rates of development of cooperation with the State Development Bank, the Eximbank of the PRC and the Silk Road Fund.

Here, they expressed their willingness to hold the first Forum of the Regions of Uzbekistan and China in the near future focused on establishment of direct ties between the regions of the Republic of Uzbekistan and the provinces of the PRC, as well as to strengthen bilateral ties between Uzbek and Chinese entrepreneurs.

The parties noted the interest of both countries in maintaining the current positive dynamics of trade, including through minimization of negative impact of the pandemic to the commercial agreements. The pressing concern here is the draft agreement between the Government of the Republic of Uzbekistan and the Government of the PRC on the exchange of information required to define and control the customs value of goods and related Technical Conditions for Information Interaction. The parties agreed to intensify cooperation here and involve the relevant departments of the two countries.

The parties also negotiated on the interaction in transportation. They noted the successful launch of the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan-Turkmenistan block train. They agreed to develop additional favorable conditions to increase multimodal transportation along this corridor. They also disclosed and allowed the proceeding of proposals to establish joint ventures for the consolidation, storage, processing and distribution of foreign trade cargo, including fresh fruits and vegetables and other products.

The negotiations resulted in further joint measures provided under the areas of interaction discussed.