Speech by the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev at a meeting of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council

Dear heads of delegations!

I would like to join the words of gratitude addressed to the President of the Republic of Belarus, dear Alexander Grigorievich Lukashenko for the traditionally warm welcome and the high level of organization of today’s meeting.

For my part, I would also note the fruitful chairmanship of the Belarusian side in the Eurasian Economic Union, during which multilateral practical interaction has noticeably intensified.

Today, my colleagues’ speeches included assessments of the emerging difficult situation in the global economy. We in Uzbekistan fully feel the negative impact of the consequences of increased protectionism and sanctions policy, disruption of trade and logistics chains and reduction in investment activity of foreign partners.

I would like to note that the further expansion and deepening of mutually beneficial cooperation with the EAEU countries - our natural and traditional partners - is one of the priority areas of our foreign economic policy.

I would like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to all my colleagues for the support and active participation of your delegations in the work of the International Industrial Exhibition “Innoprom” held in Uzbekistan since the beginning of this year. Central Asia" and the fourth Tashkent Investment Forum.

As a result of these events, important agreements were reached, new directions and promising cooperation projects were identified. We intend to expand these platforms, involving more and more leading companies and financial groups in our countries.

Dear participants of the event!

I would like to briefly inform you about the development of multilateral cooperation between Uzbekistan and the Eurasian Economic Union.

Over the four years of interaction in the status of an observer state, the foreign trade turnover of Uzbekistan with the countries of the Union increased by 80 percent and at the end of last year amounted to 18 billion dollars. I note with satisfaction the expansion of the range of trade operations, primarily due to the supply of industrial products. The number of joint ventures and projects has tripled.

In March of this year, the fourth meeting of the joint Working Group was successfully held, which resulted in agreed measures to gradually eliminate technical barriers, deepen industrial cooperation and stimulate business initiatives.

We have begun implementing a new three-year Plan, covering about 40 specific events.

Uzbekistan also actively participates in important initiatives of the EAEU, including projects and programs such as the Eurasian Agro Express, the development of e-commerce, digitalization of cargo transportation and the climate agenda.

In April, we completed all procedures and acceded to the Agreement on the establishment of the Eurasian Development Bank. Together with the bank, a promising portfolio of infrastructure modernization projects is being developed in the field of metallurgy, textiles, chemicals and other strategic industries.

Dear colleagues!

I would like to outline our vision of the key areas for further development of partnership with the EAEU.

We attach great importance to the creation of favorable conditions for increasing mutual trade turnover.

Uzbekistan fully implements all agreements related to ensuring the operation of a free trade zone between our countries.

We consider it necessary to speed up the expert study of a number of our proposals aimed at simplifying procedures and bringing together systems of technical regulation of trade operations.

We are also interested in connecting to such tools and mechanisms to support trade as the digital system of technical regulation and the ecosystem of digital transport corridors of the EAEU, the Eurasian Reinsurance Company. This will significantly facilitate the conditions for our business and provide favorable conditions for mutual access to commodity markets.

Given the intensive development of modern information technologies and artificial intelligence, we consider multilateral cooperation in the field of digitalization promising.

We propose to adopt a separate program covering the following areas: e-commerce, digital labeling of goods, the creation of new generation logistics platforms, the introduction of artificial intelligence technologies in specific areas industries.

I would also like to note the possibility of Uzbekistan’s participation in a single integrated information system of checkpoints. This will, first of all, speed up the passage of borders, ensure the effectiveness of monitoring and transparency of all procedures.

From the technical side, we are ready to actively participate in such projects.

To stimulate the development of cooperative ties, we propose to expand practical cooperation within the framework of launched programs to support small and medium-sized businesses, including within the framework of joint events with the EAEU Business Council.

We are interested in using the capabilities of the mechanism for financial support of industrial projects and the platform of the Eurasian Network of Industrial Cooperation and Technology Transfer.

In the field of ensuring food security, it is important to join forces in developing measures aimed at expanding opportunities for cooperation among agricultural producers. We are talking, first of all, about the implementation of our initiative to adopt the Program of Agricultural Cooperation of Uzbekistan with the countries of the EAEU, which provides for the introduction of advanced technologies, simplification of rules for the movement of agricultural goods, effective functioning and expansion of the “green” corridor.

We are actively working with our partners in the EAEU to simplify procedures and increase the mobility of labor resources. In this regard, we propose to conduct expert consultations on the convergence of professional standards and qualification requirements in the most popular sectors in the labor market.

If our colleagues support, we will also connect to the integrated platform “Work without borders” launched within the Organization.

Dear heads of delegations!

In conclusion, I would like to add one more thing: once again confirm our commitment to expanding practical cooperation within the EAEU.

I am confident that Uzbekistan’s participation in the noted multilateral programs and projects will serve to strengthen economic partnership and contribute to the sustainable development of our countries in modern conditions.

Official website of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan