As part of the visit of a delegation of Austrian government and business circles to the Republic of Uzbekistan, the Uzbek-Austrian Business Forum was held in Tashkent. The event was attended by about 100 entrepreneurs from both countries, representatives of Chambers of Commerce and Industry and international financial institutions, as well as heads of ministries, agencies and industry associations of Uzbekistan.

During the opening ceremony of the forum, Deputy Prime Minister - Minister of Investments and Foreign Trade of the Republic of Uzbekistan S.Umurzakov and Federal Minister for European and International Affairs of the Republic of Austria M.Linhart made speeches. The heads of the delegations of the two countries stressed the untapped potential of cooperation in investment, trade and economic areas, and indicated mutual readiness to work together to create favourable conditions for establishing partnership between Uzbek and Austrian entrepreneurs.

Significant prospects for the implementation of joint projects in the energy sector, petrochemical industry, IT sector, agriculture, production of construction materials as well as banking and finance were noted.

The tangible results and irreversible nature of large-scale socio-economic reforms implemented in Uzbekistan were emphasized. It was announced that thanks to consistent measures on liberalization of the national economy and improvement of the investment climate in the country, prerequisites were formed for expanding the economic partnership between Uzbekistan and Austria. The “success stories” of Austrian companies in the implementation of projects in the chemical, mining and automotive industries of Uzbekistan were also noted.

The Forum was attended by the leadership and representatives of the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber, large Austrian companies, ministries, agencies and industry associations of Uzbekistan, as well as representatives of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. The available opportunities for cooperation in priority areas were revealed in detail, the investment and trade potential of various industries were presented, as well as preferences created in Uzbekistan for foreign investors.

During the business forum, meetings were also held in the "B2B" format, during which representatives of the business circles of the two countries were able to discuss promising projects and identify points of interaction with a view to reaching specific agreements in the near future.