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Chairman of EEC Board and officials of Uzbekistan discussed possibilities for enhancing cooperation
On July 12, Mikhail Myasnikovich, Chairman of the EEC Board, held a meeting with Shavkat Mirziyoyev, President of the Republic of Uzbekistan, during his working visit to Uzbekistan. The sides discussed the level of interaction and possibilities for extending the dialogue, deepening and enhancing cooperation.
"The Eurasian Economic Commission actively cooperates with the Government of Uzbekistan. There are some reserves for boosting interaction and what's the main, dear Mr. President, your personal and political will to deepen integration", the Chairman of the EEC Board stressed.
The EAEU is one of the largest trading partners of the Republic of Uzbekistan.
"We see the prospect of deepening our cooperation in the field of investment and financial policy, migration, as well as new areas - science, tourism and healthcare, which are gradually enshrined in our agenda", Mikhail Myasnikovich said.
According to the Chairman of the EEC Board, initiatives on specific areas of cooperation announced earlier by Shavkat Mirziyoyev, President of the Republic of Uzbekistan, are one of the key drivers of further interaction.
Цитата"We, jointly with the Government of Uzbekistan, work on implementing your initiatives during the May meeting of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council", Mikhail Myasnikovich informed.The Eurasian Economic Commission will give the most active support in further cooperation.
Shavkat Mirziyoyev noted the established systematic interaction between Uzbekistan and structures of the EAEU as the Observer State. He noted with satisfaction some upward trends in the growth of mutual trade and investment indicators with the EAEU countries.
The meeting paid special attention to further elimination of trade barriers, strengthening industrial cooperation and boosting business contacts, developing project cooperation, promoting transit projects and programs, simplifying migration procedures and expanding tourism exchange.
An arrangement was reached to hold next meeting of the joint Working Group.
As part of the working visit of the Chairman of the EEC Board to Uzbekistan, a meeting was also held with Sardor Umurzakov, Deputy Prime Minister for Investments and Foreign Economic Affairs - Minister of Investments and Foreign Trade of Uzbekistan.
The meeting discussed some issues of interaction between Uzbekistan and the EAEU in the Observer State status. The sides announced mutual commitment to the principles of mutually beneficial economic cooperation, equality and respecting national interests, as well as to implementing joint measures aimed at creating additional opportunities for closer interaction between Uzbekistan and the EAEU countries in the investment, trade, economic, transport and logistics spheres.
Besides, they expressed mutual readiness to implement joint programs for boosting industrial and agro-industrial cooperation, laying the groundwork for unhindered mutual trade and improving the efficiency of using the region’s transit potential.
From this perspective, the format of further work on simplifying logistics and customs procedures, removing existing barriers, harmonizing technical regulations and technical regulation provisions, as well as developing and implementing measures aimed at simplifying labor migration and movement of specialists was determined.
The sides approved and signed a List of additional areas of cooperation to the Joint Action Plan of the Eurasian Economic Commission and the Government of the Republic of Uzbekistan for 2021-2023.
The updated document will provide a blueprint for promoting trade and economic relations. It includes new areas of sector-specific interaction. This is work on gradual harmonization of approaches in the field of customs cooperation (including the use of navigation seals for monitoring traffic and other aspects of customs transit), technical regulation, sanitary, phytosanitary and veterinary standards. Furthermore, this entails cooperation on digitizing freight transportation, the climate agenda, e-commerce, Uzbekistan's involvement in implementing the Eurasian Agroexpress project, etc.
Various ways to intensify the business dialogue were considered. In particular, Mikhail Myasnikovich proposed to hold a joint meeting between the business councils of the EAEU and the Republic of Uzbekistan.
The side paid special attention to the issues of the EAEU international agenda."The Republic of Uzbekistan is able to play the role of an efficient link with the EAEU eastern partners. It is able to become a bridge between the EAEU, the Belt and Road Initiative and the Greater Eurasian Partnership", the Chairman of the EEC Board noted.
Uzbekistan and the EAEU countries are linked by many years of cooperation. In late December 2020, Uzbekistan was granted the Observer State status at the EAEU. A developed infrastructure of interaction has been created: a Memorandum on Interaction between the Commission and the Government of the Republic of Uzbekistan as well as a Joint Action Plan until 2023 were signed on April 30, 2021. There is a functioning Joint Working Group on interaction between the EEC and the Government of the Republic of Uzbekistan. A series of seminars on the Commission’s broad economic agenda was held for representatives of public authorities of the Republic of Uzbekistan. This raises the level of awareness of Uzbekistan’s state administration bodies about the Union’s regulation documents which will contribute to gradual harmonization with the EAEU law.
The EAEU ranks first among Uzbekistan's foreign trade partners (the share in trade turnover is 30.4%), remaining ahead of China (17.7%), the EU (9.2%), and Turkey (8.1%). In turn, Uzbekistan is the second largest trading partner of the Union among the CIS countries that are non-EAEU Members.
As of year end 2021, the trade turnover between the EAEU States and Uzbekistan exceeded 11.6 bln dollars.
The turnover of foreign trade in goods and services of the EAEU and Uzbekistan increased by 26% in January-May 2022 compared to the same period last year and amounted to 5.6 bln dollars (the EAEU exports to Uzbekistan amounted to 3.8 bln dollars (+23.8%), and imports amounted to 1.8 bln dollars (+31%).
