Eldor Tulyakov, Executive Director of the Development Strategy Centre: The strategic partnership between Uzbekistan and Turkey has significantly intensified in recent years

Yesterday, Tashkent hosted an international round table on the results of the official visit of the President of Turkey to Uzbekistan, reports “Dunyo” IA correspondent.

The event was organized by the Development Strategy Center in cooperation with the Ankara Center for Crisis and Policy Studies (ANKASAM).

Representatives of the Development Strategy Centre, the Institute for Strategic and Interregional Studies under the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan, the Centre for Economic Research and Reform, the Information-Analytical Centre for International Relations, the Central Asian International Institute, the Institute for Forecasting and Macroeconomic Research and Turkey’s leading think tanks took part in the event. Experts from the Ankara Centre for Crisis and Policy Studies ANKASAM, the "Marmara Group" Foundation for Strategic and Social Studies, the Sahibkiran Centre for Strategic Studies and other research centres took part in the event.

The participants were divided into five sessions and discussed the main achievements and results of the summit of heads of state held on March 29-30 this year and the second meeting of the Uzbek-Turkish Strategic Cooperation Council, as well as political, diplomatic, trade, economic, cultural and other issues. The current state and prospects of cooperation in the humanitarian sphere have also been discussed in detail.

At the beginning of the roundtable, Eldor Tulyakov, Executive Director of the Development Strategy Centre, noted that the strategic partnership between Uzbekistan and Turkey has significantly intensified in recent years.

– Relations between Uzbekistan and Turkey have a long history. Our countries and peoples are bound by close ties of friendship and brotherhood based on the common language and history, culture and traditions. Turkey is one of the first countries to recognize the independence of Uzbekistan, which has a special place in the annals of the independent development of our country. This year marks the 30th anniversary of establishing diplomatic relations between the two countries and the 5th anniversary of the laying foundation for the strategic partnership.

Of course, the friendly relations between the leaders of the two countries, regular high-level meetings and cordial dialogue play an essential role in developing effective cooperation.

In particular, at the invitation of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan, President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan paid an official visit to Uzbekistan on March 29-30 this year. During the two-day visit, the two leaders exchanged views on further development and strengthening multifaceted cooperation between Uzbekistan and Turkey based on mutual respect, friendship and trust. Ten documents aimed at further expanding multifaceted Uzbek-Turkish cooperation were signed at the level of governments, ministries and departments.

As a result of the rapid growth of bilateral trade between Uzbekistan and Turkey in 2021, Turkey has become Uzbekistan’s fourth foreign trade partner. By the end of 2021, the total foreign exchange of Uzbekistan and Turkey increased three times compared to 2016 and reached 3 billion 388 million USD. While the parties aim to increase this figure to $5 billion a year, they plan to increase bilateral trade to $10 billion soon.

The participants also noted that the exports and imports between the two countries are almost equal; if in 2021 Turkey invested $1 billion 698 million in Uzbekistan, Uzbekistan exported to Turkey goods worth $1 billion 690 million.

In addition, the volume of Turkish investment in Uzbekistan has increased 70 times. At the end of 2021, Turkey was among the top three countries investing in the economy of Uzbekistan, and in 2021 alone invested a total of $ 1.18 bn.

According to the State Statistics Committee of Uzbekistan, as of April 1, 2022, 1961 Turkish companies are operating in Uzbekistan. This figure ranks third after Russia (2,390 companies) and China (1,967 companies).

At the end of the roundtable, based on friendly and fruitful dialogue, the parties discussed the Agreement on Preferential Trade achieved between the two leaders, the Protocol on the exchange of information on the movement of goods and vehicles across borders, Memorandums of Understanding in the field of labour and employment, forensics, construction. The two countries agreed actively continue in the framework of leading "think tanks" and international institutions.

“Dunyo” IA