Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- Today, President of the Republic of Tatarstan (Russia) Rustam Minnikhanov arrived on a working visit to the city of Samarkand, Republic of Uzbekistan. At the international airport of Samarkand, he was met by the Khokim of the Samarkand region Erkinjon Turdimov.

Immediately after arrival, Rustam Minnikhanov went to meet with representatives of the Tatar public organizations of the Republic of Uzbekistan.

Today in Uzbekistan, the approximate number of Tatars reaches 300 thousand people, which is about 1% of the total population of the country. The largest diasporas of the Tatars of Uzbekistan live in Tashkent and Samarkand regions.

Tomorrow, on 26 November, in the program of Rustam Minnikhanov it is planned to open a new KAMAZ truck assembly line in Samarkand.

In the afternoon, Rustam Minnikhanov and his entourage will leave for Tashkent, where they will get acquainted with the work of the Tashkent Agricultural Machinery Plant and visit the correspondent office of the New Century TV and Radio Company (TNV). It should be called that the decision to open the TNV bureau was made after a meeting with the local Tatar asset in 2017.

In addition, a working meeting of Rustam Minnikhanov with the Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Uzbekistan Elyor Ganiev is planned, which will be held as part of the Tatarstan-Uzbekistan business forum.

It is also expected that official meetings will be held with the Prime Minister of the Republic of Uzbekistan Abdulla Aripov and the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev. It is expected that during the meeting the parties will sign a series of cooperation agreements between enterprises of the Republic of Tatarstan (Russia) and the Republic of Uzbekistan.

Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Tatarstan - Chairman of the National Council of Milli Shura of the World Tatars Congress Vasil Shaykhraziev, the Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Tatarstan - Minister of Industry and Trade of the Republic of Tatarstan Albert Karimov, Assistant to the President of the Republic of Tatarstan Radik Gimatdinov, Chairman of the RT State Committee on Tourism Sergey Ivanov, Chairman of the Board of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Republic of Tatarstan Shamil Ageev, as well as heads of such major industrial enterprises enterprises of the republic, such as KAMAZ PJSC, Tatneft PJSC, HMS Group JSC, Himgrad JSC, Tatspirtprom JSC and other companies arrived in Uzbekistan to establish or develop bilateral cooperation.

In 2018, the foreign trade turnover between the Republic of Tatarstan and the Republic of Uzbekistan amounted to more than US$145 million (1.5 times higher than the level of 2017). The share of exports and imports amounted to 93% and 7%, respectively. According to the results of 9 months of the current 2019, the commodity circulation almost equaled the annualized indicator of 2018 and reached US$141 million.

Traditionally, cooperation is developing in the oil and petrochemical industries. Products in Tatarstan engineering are in great demand in Uzbekistan. For example, at present, the KAMAZ fleet of vehicles in Uzbekistan totals about 14 thousand units. In 2017, Uzavtosanoat JSC (Uzavtoprom) and KAMAZ PJSC entered into a cooperation agreement providing for the organization of production of trucks under the KAMAZ brand. In 2018, the production of trucks based on the company UzAvto Trailer LLC was launched in Samarkand region.