On December 26, President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev participated in the regular meeting of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council in the status of an observer in the city of St. Petersburg.
The current meeting, chaired by Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan (in online format), was also attended by President of the Republic of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko, President of the Republic of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, President of the Kyrgyz Republic Sadyr Japarov, President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin, as well as Minister of Industry, Mines and Trade of the Islamic Republic of Iran – an observer country to the EAEU Seyed Mohammad Atabak. President of the Republic of Cuba Miguel Díaz-Canel addressed the participants with a video message.
The agenda included issues of further expansion of multilateral trade and economic cooperation, support for industrial cooperation projects, implementation of joint programs in priority areas of interaction.
At the beginning of his speech, the President of Uzbekistan noted that in recent years, our country, as an observer, has established fruitful interaction with the Eurasian Economic Union in 22 areas.
In 2024, Uzbekistan’s trade turnover with the Union countries grew by 11 percent. In October, a new three-year Cooperation Plan with the Eurasian Economic Commission was adopted, which includes about 40 measures in such fields as trade, industry, financial sector, agribusiness, transportation and others.
Uzbekistan has also actively joined a number of sectoral programs of the EAEU in the field of digitalization of trade and cargo transportation, introduction of e-commerce, combating climate change.
Preparations are underway for the fourth meeting of the joint working group in March next year.
The Head of our state spoke separately about the priorities of mutually beneficial cooperation with the Eurasian Economic Union.
In particular, he called for the phased elimination of trade barriers in mutual trade. In this context, it was proposed to elaborate at the expert level the issue of non-application of tariff and non-tariff restrictions in trade between Uzbekistan and the EAEU states.
Readiness was expressed to hold consultations in the near future on converging technical regulation systems, with the adoption of a practical action plan.
The leader of Uzbekistan spoke in favor of our country’s participation in the agreement on a unified system of customs transit scheduled to be signed at the end of the event, as well as the early introduction of electronic exchange of data on goods and vehicles transported across customs borders.
Interest was also expressed in joining the mechanisms and tools to support industrial cooperation and localization programs.
– In order to form reliable financial sources to promote joint projects, we plan to finalize procedures and join the Eurasian Development Bank early next year, – said the President of our country.
With a view of more active involvement of business and creation of favorable conditions for strengthening business ties, it was proposed to hold a meeting of the EAEU Business Council in Tashkent in April 2025.
The importance of systemic interaction in the field of digital technologies and artificial intelligence was emphasized. An initiative was put forward to connect our country to the Integrated Information System of the EAEU and the “Digital Union” project.
In the field of agriculture, it was proposed to prepare a cooperation program aimed at facilitating mutual access of agricultural products, implementing innovative agro-industrial projects and introducing scientific developments.
In order to stimulate tourist exchanges, the Head of our state expressed readiness to introduce a procedure allowing citizens of EAEU states to enter Uzbekistan with internal documents.