On June 27 in the city of Minsk President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev took part in the regular meeting of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council in a status of the head of an observer-state under the EAEU.
The meeting, chaired by President of the Republic of Belarus Aleksandr Lukashenko, was also attended by President of the Republic of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, President of the Kyrgyz Republic Sadyr Japarov, President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin, President of the Republic of Cuba Miguel Díaz-Canel, President of the Islamic Republic of Iran Masoud Pezeshkian ( sent a video address), as well as chairman of the Board of the Eurasian Economic Commission Bakytzhan Sagintayev. Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Khaled Al Nahyan, first deputy Prime Minister of Mongolia Nam-Osoron Uchral and CIS Secretary General Sergey Lebedev participated as guests.
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 outset of his speech, the President of Uzbekistan noted that further expansion and deepening of mutually beneficial cooperation with the EAEU countries is one of the priority areas of our country’s foreign economic policy.
Gratitude was expressed to the member countries of the Organization for the support and active participation of their delegations in the work of the International Industrial Exhibition “Innoprom. Central Asia” and the fourth Tashkent Investment Forum.
It was particularly emphasized that important agreements were reached at the end of these events, new directions and promising cooperation projects were identified.
The Head of our state informed the participants of the meeting about the development of Uzbekistan’s multilateral cooperation with the Eurasian Economic Union. Thus, during the period of interaction as an observer state, Uzbekistan’s foreign trade turnover with the Union countries has increased by 80 percent and amounted to $18 billion last year.
In March this year, the fourth meeting of the joint Working Group was successfully held, which resulted in the development of measures to gradually eliminate technical barriers, deepen industrial cooperation and stimulate business initiatives.
Implementation of a new three-year Plan covering about 40 specific measures has begun. Uzbekistan is also actively participating in important EAEU initiatives, including such projects and programs as the “Eurasian Agro-Express”, e-commerce development, digitalization of cargo transportation and the climate agenda.
In addition, in April the procedures for our country’s accession to the Agreement on the Establishment of the Eurasian Development Bank were finalized. Together with the Bank, a promising portfolio of projects for modernization of infrastructure, metallurgy, textile, chemical and other strategic sectors is being worked out.
The Head of our state outlined his vision of the key areas of development of partnership with the EAEU.
The importance of creating favorable conditions for increasing mutual trade turnover was noted. It was emphasized that Uzbekistan fully complies with all agreements related to the free trade zone between our countries.
In this context, the need to speed up expert study of a number of proposals of our country aimed at simplifying procedures and converging systems of technical regulation of trade operations was pointed out.
Interest was also expressed in connecting to such tools and mechanisms of trade support as the digital system of technical regulation and the ecosystem of digital transport corridors of the EAEU, the Eurasian Reinsurance Company.
Taking into account the intensive development of modern information technologies and artificial intelligence, the prospects for multilateral cooperation in the field of digitalization were noted. In this context, it was proposed to adopt a separate program covering such areas as e-commerce, digital labeling of goods, creation of new generation logistics platforms, introduction of artificial intelligence technologies in specific sectors.
The possibility of Uzbekistan’s participation in a single integrated information system of border crossing points was also mentioned. This will make it possible to speed up the passage of borders, ensure the effectiveness of monitoring and transparency of all procedures.
In order to stimulate the development of cooperation ties, Uzbekistan expressed its readiness to expand practical cooperation within the framework of the launched programs to support small and medium-sized businesses, including jointly with the EAEU Business Council.
Uzbekistan is interested in utilizing the opportunities of the mechanism of financial support for industrial projects and the platform of the Eurasian network of industrial cooperation and technology transfer.
In the field of food security, the importance of developing measures aimed at expanding opportunities for cooperation between agricultural producers was emphasized.
This refers to the implementation of the initiative to adopt the Program of agro-cooperation of Uzbekistan with EAEU countries, providing for the introduction of advanced technologies, simplification of rules of movement of agricultural goods, effective functioning and expansion of the “green” corridor.
In addition, active work is underway with EAEU partners to simplify procedures and increase the mobility of labor resources. In this regard, it was proposed to hold expert consultations on the issues of convergence of professional standards and qualification requirements in the demanded sectors of the labor market.
Readiness to join the integrated platform “Work without borders” launched within the framework of the Organization was also expressed.
In conclusion, the Head of our state stressed that Uzbekistan’s participation in multilateral programs and projects of the EAEU will serve to strengthen economic partnership and promote sustainable development of our countries.