Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- On 2 May 2023, on the eve of the visit of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev to the Federal Republic of Germany, a joint business forum was held in Berlin, which was attended by over 250 heads of large companies, holdings and industrial enterprises, banks, ministries, departments and industry associations of the two countries.

Speaking with a welcoming speech, Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Uzbekistan Jamshid Khodjaev emphasized the active development of bilateral relations between Uzbekistan and Germany in recent years, which became possible thanks to the trust and political will of the Heads of both states.

There was an increase in the volume of mutual trade, which doubled over the past 5 years. At the end of 2022, bilateral trade indicators increased by another 50% and, for the first time, exceeded 1 billion euros.

Consistent dynamics is also observed in investment interaction and industrial cooperation. The number of enterprises created in Uzbekistan with the participation of German capital has grown almost 3 times over several years and exceeded 200 units. The total amount of assimilated German investments has grown 11 times since 2017 and today stands at more than 4 billion euros. Many German companies such as MAN, CLAAS, Knauf, GP Papenburg, Viessmann, Deutsche Kabel, LEMKEN are already actively and very successfully doing business in Uzbekistan, launching new production facilities.

The attention of business circles in Germany is drawn to the conditions created in our country for the comfortable work of foreign investors, as well as the strengths of the Uzbek economy. Including, high human resources potential, strategic geographic location, free trade regimes with the CIS countries, GSP+ beneficiary status, active work on joining the World Trade Organization, rich raw material resources and direct support of the Government and the government of the country in the implementation of joint projects and initiatives.

The most promising areas for building long-term cooperation are energy, chemical, food and textile industries, metallurgy, automotive, agriculture, production of building materials, electrical engineering, as well as pharmaceuticals and healthcare.

Representatives of German business highly appreciated the results of economic reforms carried out in Uzbekistan, which resulted in, among other things, comfortable working conditions in the country for foreign investors. A firm commitment was expressed to increase cooperation and develop new joint projects.

The forum program continued with “B2B” negotiations and presentations of specific cases and projects in the context of various sectors of the economy of Uzbekistan.