Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- On 10 April, Minister of Agriculture of Uzbekistan Aziz Voitov met with Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Israel to Uzbekistan Zehavit Ben Hillel. The parties discussed a number of areas for cooperation in the field of agriculture.

Cooperation in the field of agriculture between Uzbekistan and Israel has its own history. The trade turnover for export and import of agricultural and food products is carried out for such items as dried fruits, dried vegetables, processed products, confectionery, and seedlings. Israel has extensive experience in a number of areas of the agricultural sector, including efficient use of water resources, drought-resistant agriculture, precision farming, sustainable crops and more.

In his speech, Aziz Voitov suggested paying attention to the development of several areas for establishing further cooperation between the two countries. The first is land development. As you know, in Uzbekistan, on the site of the Aral Sea, there is the youngest Aralkum desert in the world. This phenomenon makes us look for ways to prevent similar environmental disasters in the future. One of the steps was proposed to attract specialists and technologies from Israel to combat the arid and saline lands of the Aral Sea region. Thus, Uzbekistan proposes to allocate a land plot free of charge for a pilot project to restore land and grow crops in the Aral Sea region.

The second important point in the cooperation between the two countries is the development in the field of water-saving technologies. Uzbekistan is interested in attracting Israeli technologies for saving water resources. The next item is cooperation in the field of science. Today, Uzbekistan has a great interest in establishing cooperation with the Israeli Agency for International Development Cooperation (MASHAV) and the Center for International Cooperation in Agricultural Development (SINADCO) to organize joint trainings and seminars both in our country and in Israel.

There is also a large field of activity for building bridges between the International Agricultural University in Tashkent (IAU) and Tel Aviv University in such areas as: Advanced training of the teaching staff of TSAU and IAU universities within the framework of MASHAV grants; Implementation of joint educational programs with Tel Aviv University in Jerusalem for the issuance of double diplomas.

In turn, Ms. Zehavit Ben Hillel expressed her readiness to implement the proposed projects. At the meeting, she spoke about ongoing programs that are annually conducted by the Israeli Embassy in Uzbekistan and MASHAV, and both employees of the Ministry of Agriculture and specialists in the agricultural sector, and, directly, water-saving technologies, as well as the readiness of Israeli universities to take part in scientists and students from Uzbekistan on its territory. Also, in the autumn it is planned to hold an exhibition in the agricultural sector, in which specialists from Israel and Uzbekistan will take part.

At the end of the meeting, the parties exchanged souvenirs and agreed on an open dialogue to promote projects in the agricultural sector and implement them through joint efforts.