Minister of Agriculture of Uzbekistan met with the delegation of the Czech Republic

Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- A Czech delegation is on a working visit to Uzbekistan from 23 to 26 May. On the first day of the visit, the Ministry of Agriculture of the Republic of Uzbekistan hosted a meeting between Minister Jamshid Khodjaev and representatives of the Committee on Agriculture of the Chamber of Deputies of the Parliament of the Czech Republic, headed by Chairman Mikhail Kuchera and Ambassador of the Czech Republic to Uzbekistan Vaclav Yilek. Earlier, the guests were met at the Legislative Chamber of the Oliy Majlis.

On 24 and 25 May, guests from the Czech Republic will visit the Pulsar Group Brewery plant and a livestock farm in Samarkand region, get acquainted with the UzumFermer winery in Kibray district of Tashkent region, as well as a meeting with representatives of the Council of Farmers, Dekhkan Farms and owners of homestead lands and participation at the AgroExpo Uzbekistan exhibition in Tashkent.

At the meeting held at the Ministry of Agriculture of Uzbekistan, issues of cooperation were discussed, taking into account the great agricultural potential of both republics.

The parties plan to expand cooperation and implement joint investment projects and programs in the agricultural sector, in particular, in crop production and industrial production, as well as the development of scientific cooperation. The possibilities of implementing master’s and doctoral programs were discussed. In addition, the Czech side invited Uzbek enterprises to take part in the agricultural exhibition "Land-nurse", which will be held in late August in the Czech Republic.

“As part of building up investment cooperation in the field of agriculture, as well as taking into account the agrarian potential of the Czech Republic, the meeting discussed the prospects for establishing joint production of pickled vegetable products in Uzbekistan, as well as organizing fruit processing, making juices, jams, compotes and other value-added products, - said Khodjaev following the meeting with the delegation of the Czech Republic headed by the Chairman of the Chamber of Deputies of the Parliament of the Czech Republic Mikhail Kuchera. - We expressed our readiness to jointly implement projects for the cultivation of organic nuts and almonds, which occupies a significant part in the structure of imports of raw materials and exports of finished products. In addition, we discussed the possibilities of developing close cooperation between manufacturing companies, farms, scientists and specialists in the creation of hop plants, the joint cultivation of this crop and further trade.”

The total area of hop fields in the Czech Republic is 5 thousand hectares. In 2019, 7.1 thousand tons of hops were produced. The hop is grown in three regions: Žatec, Uštek and Třice. In Czech Republic there are 45 large industrial breweries and more than 480 small breweries (many of them family-owned). Regarding the share of organic agricultural land: in the Czech Republic there are about 550 thousand hectares of organic land, which is 15.4% of the total area. The total number of organic farms is 4690 units. About 825 producers of organic agricultural products work in the country. More than 1000 distributors of these products.

Following the meeting, the parties agreed to create an Uzbek-Czech Working Group, which will include representatives of the involved departments responsible for the development of the agro-industrial complex in their countries.