KAZAN, November 26. /TASS/. The Republic of Tatarstan sees cooperation with Uzbekistan as very importaant and is ready to contribute to the expansion of business ties, said the press service of the head of the Russian region on Tuesday, following the results of the Tatarstan-Uzbekistan business forum in Tashkent.
"Our republic sees development of cooperation with Uzbekistan as a very important task and we will be glad to expand mutually beneficial ties. We are ready to provide all the necessary support. <...> Last year, our trade turnover increased by 57% reaching $146 million. In nine months of 2019, the trade turnover almost equaled the annual average of 2018 and amounted to $141 million,” said Minnikhanov as quoted by the press service.
Minnikhanov invited the business circles of Uzbekistan headed by Deputy Prime Minister Eler Ganiev to visit Tatarstan in order to better understand the region. Speaking about successful examples of cooperation, he recalled the launch of the second truck assembly line at the Samarkand plant, the expansion of Tatneft gas station network and the supply of compressor, oil and gas equipment of HMS Group to Uzbekistan.
The parties signed the following agreements at the forum: on cooperation of TATNEFT with the Rubber Products Plant, on cooperation of TATNEFT with Uzbekneftegaz, on cooperation of HMS Group with SFI Management Group (Uzbekistan). A memorandum of cooperation was also signed between the Tatarinform news agency and the UzA National Agency of Uzbekistan.
Meeting with the President of Uzbekistan
In Tashkent, Rustam Minnikhanov also met with the President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev. The head of the Russian region pointed out the importance of work on increasing the volume and type of mutual deliveries of goods and services. Moreover, the republics have lots of opportunities to develop relations in the humanitarian sphere religion and spiritual ties. Rustam Minnikhanov invited Shavkat Mirziyoyev to visit Tatarstan during his trip to Russia.
"It is very important to expand cooperation in the fields of culture, science, education, tourism. For instance, about 4,000 students from Uzbekistan study at Tatarstan universities. We also have the National-Cultural Autonomy of Uzbeks of Tatarstan, with almost 9,000 people who currently reside in Russia, and together with labor migrants the number of Uzbek people exceeds 100,000. In turn, we are grateful for the support of the Tatar community in Uzbekistan," the head of Tatarstan added.
The President of Uzbekistan proposed to boost economic cooperation. He noted that he always praised Tatarstan to his colleagues as one of Russia's leading regions, and urged to use the republic's experience. According to the president. Over the past three years, about 30 different delegations from Uzbekistan have visited Tatarstan.
"'Annual growth in mutual trade turnover is great, of course, but the achieved level of $145 million is so much less than what the Republic of Tatarstan and the regions of Uzbekistan could have," said Mirziyoyev, inviting the working groups of the two republics to draft detailed plans for implementing the signed agreements and report on achievements on a quarterly basis.