Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- Today, on 8 November, in Tashkent, on the eve of the XVI Summit of the Economic Cooperation Organization scheduled, a business meeting of the ECO member countries was held.

Its organizers were the Chambers of Commerce and Industry of Uzbekistan and the ECO, as well as the Secretariat of the Organization.

The business forum, becoming another important step in strengthening international economic partnership, brought together leaders and representatives of the Chambers of Commerce and Industry of the ECO member states, ministries, relevant departments, banks and private companies.

More than 300 delegates from Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Turkey and more than 300 domestic representatives took part in its work, who discussed the state, as well as prospects for expanding and intensifying trade and economic cooperation within the ECO.

The purpose of this business forum is to intensify economic cooperation with the ECO countries, to establish new connections between entrepreneurs of Uzbekistan and the member states of this organization.

Such broad and multi-format interaction with foreign business circles testifies to the interest of the world community, business circles and major investors in implementing large-scale projects, deepening productive cooperation, and realizing the enormous potential of our country as a crossroads of the continent’s economic routes.

In recent years, Uzbekistan and the ECO have accumulated solid experience of working together, creating a solid basis for effective cooperation in the long term. Under the leadership of President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, our country, while contributing to building up a comprehensive partnership, is successfully developing relations with the states that are members of the ECO.

Addressing the Forum participants with a welcoming speech, Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Uzbekistan Jamshid Khojaev and Deputy Secretary General of the Economic Cooperation Organization Kashif Zaman highly appreciated the decisive spirit of the business circles of the participating countries to establish mutually beneficial partnerships.

The main objectives of the forum are to demonstrate the potential of the regions and industries of Uzbekistan, attract companies from ECO member countries to the implementation of new investment projects in Uzbekistan, strengthen institutional ties between the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Uzbekistan and the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the ECO member states, including within the framework of Business advice.

At the end of the business forum, the participants spoke in favor of continuing the practice of such events and expressed confidence that constructive cooperation between the ECO member states will continue to develop successfully, defining new directions for multilateral partnership for the long term.

Within the framework of the forum, bilateral meetings were organized in a mixed format, during which further practical steps were outlined in order to increase business contacts in the fuel and energy complex, chemical industry, agriculture, food and textile industries, trade and other areas.