Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) - The President of the Republic of Tatarstan Rustam Minnikhanov took part in the Tatarstan-Uzbekistan business forum today.

Before the start of the business forum, a bilateral meeting was held between the President of the Republic of Tatarstan Rustam Minnikhanov and the Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Uzbekistan Elyor Ganiev.

Elyor Ganiev oversees issues of trade and foreign economic cooperation in the Government of Uzbekistan.

Rustam Minnikhanov thanked Elyor Ganiev for the meeting and participation in the business forum. “I hope that the visit of our delegation will contribute to the further development of cooperation between Tatarstan and Uzbekistan, aimed at strengthening relations between the Russian Federation and the Republic of Uzbekistan,” he said.

Rustam Minnikhanov emphasized that after a meeting in 2017 with the President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev, the foreign trade turnover between Tatarstan and the regions of Uzbekistan shows dynamic growth from year to year.

The President of Tatarstan emphasized that the purpose of this visit is to strengthen these achievements and outline new directions for the development of cooperation.

Then the President of the Republic of Tatarstan Rustam Minnikhanov and the Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Uzbekistan Elyor Ganiev went to the venue of the business forum "Tatarstan - Uzbekistan".

Thus, opening the forum, the President of the Republic of Tatarstan Rustam Minnikhanov expressed his gratitude for the attention and support of the development of inter-regional cooperation to the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin and the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev.

“Today we are pleased to present the economic potential of Tatarstan. Our republic attaches great importance to the development of cooperation with Uzbekistan, and we will be glad to expand mutually beneficial ties,” Rustam Minnikhanov said.

Then he briefly talked about the development of mutual cooperation between Tatarstan and Uzbekistan and gave a number of positive examples. This includes expanding supplies and opening a new KAMAZ truck assembly line in Samarkand, expanding the network of Tatneft gas stations, implementing a number of projects by the HMS Group to supply compressor, pumping and oil and gas equipment.

“Last year, our trading volume grew by 57% and reached US$146 million. According to the results of 9 months of this year, the commodity circulation practically equaled the annualized indicator of 2018 and amounted to US$141 million,” Rustam Minnikhanov emphasized. He wished the forum participants to establish new contacts and reach agreements on the implementation of joint projects.

Rustam Minnikhanov invited representatives of the business community of Uzbekistan, headed by Deputy Prime Minister Elyor Ganiev, to visit the Republic of Tatarstan - for a more complete acquaintance with the industrial and economic potential of the region.

The Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Tatarstan - Minister of Industry and Trade of the Republic of Tatarstan Albert Karimov spoke in more detail about the industrial potential of Tatarstan at the forum.

The Chairman of the State Committee for Tourism of Tatarstan Sergey Ivanov and the Chairman of the State Committee for Tourism Development of the Republic of Uzbekistan Abdulaziz Akkulova presented the tourism potential of the two republics.

Director-general of PJSC TATNEFT Nail Maganov, president of JSC HMS Group Artem Molchanov, representatives of JSC Russian Export Center in the Republic of Uzbekistan, the joint venture KAMAZ ASIA CENTER and others spoke about joint projects.

The forum ended with the signing ceremony of the Cooperation Agreements of PJSC TATNEFT with the Rubber Products Plant, the cooperation of PJSC TATNEFT with JSC Uzbekneftegaz, the cooperation of the HMS Group with the SFI Management Group (Uzbekistan) and the Memorandum of Cooperation between the Tatar- inform and the National Agency of Uzbekistan UzA.