On April 18 this year, a government delegation of the Republic of Uzbekistan consisting of heads of key ministries and agencies led by Deputy Prime Minister - Minister of Investments and Foreign Trade S.Umurzakov visited Riyadh to hold negotiations on further expansion of bilateral cooperation in priority areas.

The first event during the visit was the meeting of Deputy Prime Minister - Minister of Investments and Foreign Trade S.Umurzakov with Minister of Energy of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia prince Abdulaziz bin Salman Al Saud.

During the meeting, the current state of the Uzbek-Saudi partnership in the energy sector, the implementation of joint projects and prospects for expanding the joint investment portfolio in this sector were discussed.

Saudi Arabia is currently one of the largest foreign investors in the energy sector of Uzbekistan. In many ways, this has been achieved thanks to successful activities of Saudi "ACWA Power" in the country with a total portfolio of projects worth over $2.5 billion. Currently, a project for the construction of a combined-cycle gas power plant with a capacity of 15 GW in the Syrdarya region and projects for the construction of two wind farms with a total capacity of 1 GW in the Bukhara region are under implementation. In February this year, the construction of another wind power plant with a capacity of 100 MW was launched in the Republic of Karakalpakstan.

During the dialogue, significant prospects for further deepening cooperation in the field of renewable energy to bring the share of alternative energy sources in the total energy balance of the country to 25 percent by 2026 were noted. The parties agreed to work out new directions for the implementation of joint investment projects, taking into account the successful experience gained by Saudi investors in this area. In particular, attention was paid to projects to increase the production of natural gas and its further processing in order to produce raw materials for the chemical industry. In the near future, a visit of the heads of leading Saudi companies to Uzbekistan will be organized to develop practical aspects of cooperation.

Following the meeting, further steps were outlined to deepen mutually beneficial cooperation and work out new areas of partnership.