On February 4 this year, Minister of Investments, Industry and Trade of the Republic of Uzbekistan Laziz Kudratov received Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Belarus to the Republic of Uzbekistan Leonid Marinich.

The current state and prospects for further expansion of Uzbek-Belarusian trade, economic, investment and industrial cooperation were discussed at the meeting.

Positive dynamics in mutual trade was noted: in 2022, trade turnover between the two countries increased by 71% and exceeded $530 million. At the same time, the export of Uzbek products to Belarus doubled. The parties expressed mutual readiness to make joint efforts to bring trade indicators to $1 billion in the coming years.

Prospects for deepening investment partnership and expanding industrial cooperation were also discussed during the dialogue. It was noted that the number of enterprises with the participation of Belarusian capital in Uzbekistan reached 181 units, including 77 joint ventures and 104 with full foreign investments. 86 new enterprises were created in 2022 alone. In turn, more than a hundred enterprises with Uzbek investments operate on the territory of Belarus. Readiness was expressed to provide comprehensive assistance to the implementation of new joint industrial cooperation projects.

Uzbek-Belarusian interregional ties are successfully developing. During the visit of the delegation of the Vitebsk region of Belarus to Kashkadarya region in October 2022, important agreements were reached in the field of economy, industry, education and tourism. The importance of continuing work on the development of cooperation between the regions through the creation of joint trade and manufacturing enterprises was emphasized.

A number of important proposals for the implementation of joint projects in the textile, leather and footwear, electrical engineering, furniture industry and in the production of modern building materials were analyzed.

Following the meeting, the parties expressed mutual commitment to further expand partnership within the framework of the discussed areas of cooperation between the two countries.