President of Uzbekistan outlines priorities for development of cooperation with EAEU

Islamabad; Monitoring Desk – On October 14, 2021, the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev took part in an extraordinary meeting of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council via videoconference.

The President of Uzbekistan is participating in the summits of this integration association for the third time since Uzbekistan received the status of an observer state in the EAEU in December 2020.

The event, chaired by the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, was also attended by the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan, President of the Republic of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko, President of the Kyrgyz Republic Sadyr Zhaparov, President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin, President of the Republic of Cuba – an observer country under the EAEU Miguel Bermúdez and Chairman of the Board of the Eurasian Economic Commission Mikhail Myasnikovich.

The agenda of the meeting included issues of further deepening multilateral economic partnership, as well as promoting practical interaction in such priority areas as trade, industrial cooperation, development of transport and transit potential, food security, digitalization, green economy and other spheres.

The President of Uzbekistan in his speech outlined the priorities for the development of mutually beneficial cooperation with the EAEU, the members of which are trade and economic partners of Uzbekistan.

It was noted that in the context of a pandemic, the trade turnover of Uzbekistan with the countries of the Organization is steadily growing. Active interaction with the Eurasian Economic Commission has been established, a Joint Working Group has begun its activities. Promising cooperation projects with the Eurasian Development Bank are being prepared.

The Leader of Uzbekistan, emphasizing the importance of intensifying efforts to build up trade and economic ties, proposed to develop a joint roadmap to eliminate existing barriers, harmonize technical regulations and standards, digitalize customs procedures in mutual trade.

It was noted that Uzbekistan is interested in enhancing cooperation in the creation of interregional value chains by deepening industrial cooperation. New opportunities for this will be opened by the annual holding of the Industrial Forum “Innoprom – Central Asia” in Tashkent.

The President of Uzbekistan noted the importance of improving the network of transport corridors and logistics infrastructure as a key factor in the sustainable development of national economies.

He invited to join the Agroexpress project launched by Uzbekistan jointly with Russia and Kazakhstan, which is designed to ensure quick mutual delivery of the goods in demand.

Taking into account the particular relevance of issues of ensuring food security, the Leader of Uzbekistan noted the importance of consolidating efforts and finding new interaction points in this sphere by developing a joint Program of Cooperation.

The interest of Uzbekistan in participating in the digital transformation process, sharing practical experience and mutual transfer of advanced technologies within the EAEU was also noted.

The Head of the state paid special attention to the environmental agenda and stressed the need for coordinated measures to mitigate the effects of climate change.

The President of Uzbekistan called on partner countries to take an active part in joint projects to create a zone of environmental innovations and technologies in the Aral Sea region, and also invited them to the International Forum on Green Energy, to be held next September in the city of Nukus.

In addition, it was proposed to establish interaction with the High-level Working Group on the Climate Agenda, created within the framework of the Association.

In the conclusion of his speech, the Leader of Uzbekistan expressed confidence that the practical results of the summit would contribute to the promotion of mutually beneficial collaboration and close cooperation with the EAEU countries.