As part of the business program of the official visit to the Italian Republic, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev held a meeting in Milan with investors and representatives of big business of this country.
The Governor of the Lombardy Region, Attilio Fontana, the President of the Chamber of Commerce «Italy – Uzbekistan», Giorgio Veronesi, as well as over 25 heads of leading companies, corporations, associations, and financial institutions such as Eni, Enel, Pietro Fiorentini, Saipem, Energy System, Imagro Group, HT Holding, Danieli, SACE, Ferroli Group, Arsenale Group, Pirelli and others attended the meeting from the Italian side.
«This is my first visit to your amazing country – one from the most ancient cradles of world civilization, the center of the richest cultural heritage and high technologies, a source of inspiration for many generations of artists and poets. It is symbolic that Milan is chosen as the place of our meeting – a modern economic pole, where active business life is in full swing, innovations and technologies are born, new industries are developing», the President noted, opening the event.
It was noted with satisfaction that in recent years, economic cooperation between Uzbekistan and Italy has been developing dynamically. The number of joint ventures with the participation of Italian capital in our country has doubled. The volume of mutual trade is expanding at a steady pace. A number of joint projects in electrical engineering, metallurgy, as well as infrastructure development are being successfully implemented.
The Head of state described the top-level talks held the day before with President Sergio Mattarella and Prime Minister George Meloni as fruitful and constructive.
«In fact, we have opened a new era in the history of relations between our countries, raising them to the level of strategic partnership. We agreed to expand trade and economic cooperation, create comfortable conditions for business, introduce flexible mechanisms for financing joint projects, and fully support your initiatives. We also outlined guidelines for the development of industrial cooperation», Shavkat Mirziyoyev emphasized.
Representatives of the Italian business can make a great contribution to the implementation of all the reached agreements. Moreover, a joint business forum held on the eve of the visit confirmed the interest of Italian investors in Uzbekistan, in which about 300 representatives of business circles of the two countries participated.
As an outcome, a number of new investment and trade agreements worth over 9 billion euros were agreed upon. These are large-scale projects of cooperation in the energy sector, gas chemistry and petroleum industry, metallurgy, chemical industry, textile industry, and agriculture.
During the meeting, noting the importance of constructive and open dialogue based on the principles of trust and respect, especially against the backdrop of deep turmoil in the global economy and the disruption of global supply chains, the Head of our state expressed Uzbekistan’s readiness to provide extensive support measures to Italian businesses and an effective platform for their activities in our country.
The President dwelled on the reforms and transformations carried out in Uzbekistan. Thus, consistent work was noted on the introduction of free market mechanisms, ensuring healthy competition and the inviolability of private property, supporting entrepreneurship, introducing an effective public administration system, and other positive changes that create the most comfortable conditions for doing business.
«Today, we have created all conditions for the development and prosperity of your business. Stability, reliable guarantees, and a favorable investment climate have been ensured. I invite each of you to visit our country and see for yourself that the New Uzbekistan is a unique country with truly limitless opportunities», President Shavkat Mirziyoyev said.
It was emphasized that the synergy effect from the combination of the rich natural resources and qualified personnel of Uzbekistan with the technological and industrial potential of Italy will allow the two countries to jointly produce goods with added value and export them to the markets of third countries.
In this context, the most promising areas for joint work are energy, the food and textile industries, agriculture, chemistry, and automotive, as well as electrical engineering and many other industries.
A detailed exchange of views on the plans for expanding the partnership took place. Representatives of the Italian business circles highly assessed the effectiveness of the reforms carried out in our country, which create the basis for the development of long-term cooperation with business representatives.
It was noted that Uzbekistan is a strategic partner for Italian companies, which opens opportunities for working with a promising region – Central Asia.
Italian businesspeople and investors voiced specific proposals and plans for the implementation of joint mutually beneficial projects in Uzbekistan, including the introduction of high-tech and innovative solutions.
For instance, it was about the expansion of interregional cooperation programs with Lombardy Region, promising projects for modernizing gas distribution system in Uzbekistan and electrical distribution networks in the city of Tashkent, technological re-equipment of the Tashkent Thermal Power Plant, construction of a number of plants, including waste incineration with electricity generation in the Tashkent region, purification of potassium chlorine, production of potassium hydroxide, melamine, production of building materials, agricultural machinery, expansion of saffron plantations, increase in production capacities of «Uzmetkombinat» JSC, creation, together with the Turin Polytechnic University, of the Center for Italian Technologies and Innovations, and others.
In addition, agreements on training personnel in the industrial sector were reached.
The Leader of our country tasked to include each initiative announced during the meeting in a comprehensive road map. The heads of ministries and departments of Uzbekistan were instructed to provide all possible assistance to Italian partners in the implementation of current and new projects in our country.
