Prospects of economic cooperation with Japan and the Republic of Korea discussed
On February 24, 2020, the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev held a meeting to discuss the current state and prospects of development of bilateral investment, trade-economic cooperation with Japan and the Republic of Korea.
It should be noted that these two countries are considered advanced not only in Asia, but also in the world as a whole, especially in high technologies, and have wide investment opportunities.
Thanks to political will and regular dialogue at the highest level, relations between Uzbekistan and these countries have been raised to the rank of a strategic partnership, and close contacts have been established in various areas of cooperation.
In 2019, fruitful visits were held, which opened a new page in the history of bilateral relations. Thus, on April 18-21, President of the Republic of Korea Moon Jae-in visited Uzbekistan, and on December 17-20, President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev visited Japan. Following the meetings and negotiations, a solid package of intergovernmental and interdepartmental documents, agreements in trade-economic and investment spheres was signed.
It was noted that the indicators of mutual trade and investment with these countries are consistently growing. Last year, the trade turnover between Uzbekistan and Japan exceeded 400 million USD. To date, there are about 30 enterprises in the country with participation of capital from the Land of the Rising Sun.
Special attention is paid to timely and high-quality implementation of agreements and development of new proposals for deepening investment cooperation.
It was noted that together with Japanese partners, 48 projects worth 6.6 billion USD are being implemented in such areas as geology, chemistry and petro chemistry, banking-financial sector, healthcare and education.
In particular, projects are being successfully implemented to build hotel complexes with the HIS Group of Companies, expand the production capacity of SamAuto joint venture with Isuzu and Itochu, build power units at Navoi TPP (Navoi-3) jointly with JICA and many others.
The need for intensifying cooperation between Uzbekistan and Japan by organizing various bilateral events, including mutual visits of business circles of the two countries and working on new joint projects was noted at the meeting.
Economic cooperation with the Republic of Korea is also showing significant development. Thus, last year, bilateral trade increased by 27 percent compared to 2018, including exports by 30.1 percent. Last year, 198 enterprises with Korean capital were created in Uzbekistan, and their total number exceeds 800.
It was noted that a project on building children's multidisciplinary medical center in Tashkent is being successfully implemented with Korean partners. Work has begun on creating an innovative research-production pharmaceutical cluster Tashkent Pharma Park in Kibray district. The implementation of this project, in particular, provides for organization of a Pharmaceutical Technical University with a research center, laboratory, vivarium, pharmacopoeia center, as well as an industrial zone for production of medicines, medical devices and medical equipment.
Such areas as agriculture, information-communication technologies, healthcare, chemical, light, electrical, pharmaceutical and jewelry industries, education and innovation are identified as promising areas of cooperation.
With the technical assistance of Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), two grant projects in healthcare and standardization were completed in 2019 in the amount of 13 million USD, and 6 projects worth 29.6 million USD are under implementation. Another 10 projects worth 72.2 million USD are being developed for implementation in 2020-2022.
In cooperation with Export-Import Bank of Korea for financing and co-financing of priority investment projects in Uzbekistan, resources in the amount of 2 billion USD have been attracted and 14 strategic projects have been implemented. 6 projects worth 608 million USD have been launched.
In general, as a result of joint projects with Japan and South Korea, it is planned to create more than 40,000 new jobs, increase production by 4.1 billion USD and export by 1.14 billion USD.
President Shavkat Mirziyoyev noted the need for full and high-quality implementation of measures for 2020 in accordance with roadmaps developed as a result of high-level visits.
Reports of the heads of ministries and agencies were heard on the issues discussed at the meeting, specific measures and tasks were identified.
UzA
