Laziz Kudratov, Minister of Investment, Industry and Trade of the Republic of Uzbekistan, took part in the 39th meeting of the Standing Committee for Economic and Commercial Cooperation (COMCEC) of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) held in Istanbul (Türkiye). The event was dedicated to discussing efforts to strengthen partnership between the OIC member countries in areas such as trade, finance, transport, communications, agriculture, tourism, poverty reduction and digital transformation.

On the sidelines of the meeting, Laziz Kudratov held bilateral meetings with the heads of relevant ministries of a number of OIC member countries.

In particular, with Gohar Ejaz, Federal Minister for Commerce of Pakistan, the implementation progress of the protocol of the "Uzbekistan – Afghanistan – Pakistan" trilateral meeting as well as the "Roadmap" for cooperation in trade, industry, finance, banking, transport, logistics and agriculture was reviewed.

The conclusion of a Preferential Trade Agreement in 2022 made it possible to increase Uzbek-Pakistani trade turnover by 40%, in connection with which the parties agreed to jointly explore the possibilities of developing a Free Trade Agreement.

At a meeting with Ömer Bolat, Minister of Trade of Türkiye, in the context of taking measures to expand trade volume, which reached US$2.6 billion in October this year, the parties supported proposals to work out mutual recognition of certificates of conformity and the formation of a list of products to reduce customs duties.

An agreement was reached with Abdulla bin Touq Al Marri, UAE Minister of Economy, to accelerate the preparation of a joint roadmap covering such areas as logistics infrastructure, banking and insurance, stock market development, mining and processing of minerals, cooperation in the field of artificial intelligence, programming and the creation of data centers. It was noted that over the past 5 years in Uzbekistan, the number of enterprises with the participation of UAE capital has increased 2.5 times to 240 units.

In 2022, the trade turnover with the UAE exceeded US$500 million. In this context, it is proposed to intensify the holding of joint events – meetings of the IGC and business forums with the participation of representatives of the business circles of the two countries.

Transport and logistics cooperation has also taken a key place on the agenda of negotiations with foreign colleagues. All sides noted the importance of diversifying transport corridors, increasing freight volumes, simplifying transit processes and developing transport infrastructure.

As a result of the meetings, mutual commitment was confirmed to further deepen the multifaceted partnership with the adoption of concrete measures of practical interaction and systematic monitoring of the implementation of existing agreements.