There was a video conference involving Deputy Prime Minister - Minister of Investment and Foreign Trade of the Republic of Uzbekistan S. Umurzakov and Deputy Prime Minister - Minister of Finance of Japan Taro Aso.

The agenda included pressing issues of investment, trade and economic cooperation and its prospects with a view to bilateral agreements reached during the summit visit to Japan in December 2019. The participants noted the priority of systematic work implementing common initiatives and projects in the current global economic situation.

They pointedly considered pressing concerns related to individual agriculture, chemical and energy projects. Participants considered mechanisms of interagency cooperation to accelerate the procedures of already launched projects and to develop specific measures and proposals.

The participants separately discussed possible financial support from the Government of Japan to Uzbekistan as part of counteracting the spread of coronavirus infection and eliminating the economic consequences of the pandemic, as well as attracting additional funds from Japanese financial institutions to implement further stages of joint investment projects.

The Government of Japan was thanked for previously provided humanitarian assistance, including test systems and antiviral medicines. Moreover, it is planned to work out a prospect of attracting of grant funds from Japan in the near future to allocate them to equipping of medical institutions in Uzbekistan with necessary equipment, including lung ventilators and polymerase chain reaction devices.

The participants agreed to further cooperate within large-scale investment projects in Uzbekistan involving Japanese investments allocated to improve infrastructure and building up of industrial capacity. Such a work will be continued via video conferencing both at the level of heads of ministries and departments, and through communication of experts and specialists from both countries.