Belarus – Uzbekistan: mutual interest and incremental progress

№ 1, 2024
Author:

For Belarus, the Republic of Uzbekistan is an important partner in Central Asia. The two countries have always maintained partnership based on mutual trust, open dialogue and mutually beneficial cooperation.

Belarus-Uzbekistan bilateral relations are founded on close trade and economic ties, ensured by the fact that the economies of the two states are synergetic and mutually supporting. Belarus has a lot to offer its Uzbek partners, including machine-building products, manufacturing goods, services and the latest scientific and technical developments. In turn, Belarus is well aware of and appreciates the traditional positions of Uzbek exports, such as textile products, fruits and vegetables. Besides, Belarusian factories are interested in purchasing rolled metal products, parts, superstructures for machinery from Uzbekistan.

Further development of economic ties and their constructive character is seen in the transition to deeper forms of economic relations, such as mutual investment and the creation of joint ventures.

At the moment, the parties are successfully implementing a project to assemble special machinery and produce agricultural machines for soil and cotton cultivation in Uzbekistan. Last year, the first Belarusian-Uzbek enterprise for the production of dry dairy mixtures was launched, which sells products to both manufacturers and processors not only in Uzbekistan, but also in neighboring countries. There is a joint venture in Karshi city founded by the Belarusian footwear manufacturer Marko; and joint projects are being implemented to produce medicines.

At the same time, as representatives of the authorities and businesses of both countries note, the present level of cooperation is just the beginning. There are prospects for organizing production of BELARUS tractors, diesel generators and compressor units in Uzbekistan. These and other projects are on the agenda of the Joint Intergovernmental Commission on Cooperation between the Republic of Uzbekistan and the Republic of Belarus.

The tenth anniversary meeting of the Intergovernmental Commission was held in Samarkand at the end of last year. The place was not chosen by chance: in ancient times, Samarkand was a part of the Silk Road, an important caravan road that connected many countries of the East, and the modern city in its own way continues the tradition of being a business and trade center.

The meeting focused on topical issues of bilateral cooperation in the field of joint production establishment, transport interconnectivity, agri­culture, interregional partnerships, healthcare, as well as cultural and humanitarian cooperation.

The sides also addressed the ways to increase mutual trade. In this context, they agreed to develop a roadmap for 2024-2025 and an agreement on the application of an electronic system of certification of origin of goods. 

101_01_02.jpg

Within the framework of the Intergovernmental Commission meeting, the Uzbekistan-Belarus business forum was organized by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Republic of Uzbekistan and the Belarusian Chamber of Commerce and Industry on December 5.

On the Belarusian side, the forum was attended by more than 60 representatives, including heads of minist­ries and concerns, representatives of more than 40 enterprises from the fields of industrial production, mechanical engineering, light and food industries, woodworking, pharmaceuticals, veterinary medicine and wholesale trade. On the Uzbek side, more than 250 representatives of government agencies and business circles were ­participating in the event.

The forum was opened by welcoming speeches by the Chairman of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Republic of Uzbekistan Davron Vakhabov, Chairman of the Belarusian Chamber of Commerce and Industry Mikhael Miatlikov, Deputy Khokim of the Samarkand Region Oybek Khamraev, First Deputy Chairman of the Minsk City Executive Committee Nadezhda Lazarevich.

The speakers emphasized the great interest of Belarusian business and the business of Uzbekistan in mutual cooperation – not only in trade, but also in joint cooperation projects, as well as the readiness of the Chambers of Commerce and Industry to organize platforms in both countries for personal meetings of business circles and search for partners.

Assessing the interest of business, Mikhael Miatlikov noted that it is not limited to bilateral interaction. It is attractive to enter the markets of third countries through Uzbekistan, where the products of Belarusian woodworking, mechanical engineering and light industry are widely represented. Moreover, the supply of both finished products and intermediate goods, raw materials may be organized – including through the opening of a wholesale logistics center of Uzbekistan in Belarus.

As the head of the CCI of Uzbekistan noted, there are 186 enterprises in the country with the participation of Belarusian capital, but there are all the prerequisites for this number to increase. "We are interested in increasing the number of joint ventures. Today, more than 250 representatives from all regions of Uzbekistan have come to the forum, and this indicates the interest of the business community in developing cooperation with Belarus," Davron Vakhabov said.

The forum continued with addresses by the First Deputy Minister of Industry of the Republic of Belarus Aleksandr Ogorodnikov, heads of the Uzbek associations "Uzeltekhsanoat" and "Uztekstilprom", senior representatives of banks and organizations of the two countries, who presented promising projects for the development of bilateral trade, economic and investment cooperation in the fields of instrument engineering, textile industry, livestock farming and veterinary medicine, mechanisms for supplying Belarusian agricultural machinery to Uzbekistan in the form of a comprehensive technological solution using various financial instruments, as well as the features of mutual settlements between business entities of the Republic of Belarus and the Republic of Uzbekistan.

The participants summed up the results of the Uzbekistan-Belarus business forum in the presence of distinguished guests – the Prime Minister of the Republic of Uzbekistan Abdulla Aripov and the Prime Minister of the Republic of Belarus Roman Golovchenko.

"Uzbekistan is one of Belarus' main trading partners in Central Asia and the CIS region (third biggest trading partner in the CIS)," Roman Golovchenko noted. He emphasized that the dialogue between Belarus and Uzbekistan is a paragon of bilateral relations.

According to him, over the past three years, bilateral trade has almost doubled to hit more than half a billion dollars. "A key role in the development of bilateral trade and economic cooperation belongs to the business community. The ability of business to respond quickly to changes in market conditions and consumer demand, to demonstrate high maneuverability allows ensuring additional rates of economic growth, increasing in the production of goods and services," Roman Golovchenko noted.

He also expressed the opinion that business forums provide good opportunities to show each other something new, to communicate, because "nothing can replace face-to-face meetings and personal communication".

And indeed, even before the forum started, representatives of the business community of the two countries had had the opportunity to hold B2B negotiations and discuss specific ideas and projects for further mutually beneficial partnership. And Chambers of Commerce and Industry, summarizing the results of the forum, agreed to organize more platforms in both countries for business meetings.

101_01_04.jpg

The realization of this agreement was not long in coming. In the first month of the new year, 2024, Minsk welcomed a large delegation of Uzbekistan's business circles – representatives of more than 100 organizations, industry departments and enterprises working in such areas as woodworking and furniture production, light, chemical, food industry, agriculture, construction and engineering, wholesale and retail trade, and others.

In order to expand bilateral business ties, establish and deepen contacts between representatives of Belarusian and Uzbek enterprises and organizations, the Belarusian Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Uzbekistan organized a large-scale bilateral business meeting in Minsk's President Hotel on January 23.

On the Belarusian side, more than 170 representatives of enterprises from various spheres expressed interest in the event.

As they were opening the business meeting, Mikhael Miatlikov and Jamshed Urakov, Deputy Chairman of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Uzbekistan, noted that cooperation between the two countries is developing, exports and imports are growing virtually simultaneously. Further expansion of industrial cooperation in machine-building, pharmaceuticals, agriculture, chemistry, electric engineering and other areas, as well as continuation of cooperation in IT are of great importance.

According to Jamshed Urakov, the countries are cooperating in narrow areas, while it is possible to further expand ties, as there is a good basis for this. "To increase the overall trade turnover, it is necessary to cooperate more – to exchange information, to create platforms for business negotiations. All this helps to strengthen ties between our countries," he noted.

The head of the Uzbek delegation added that Belarus is an interesting business direction for his country. Belarusian experience in woodworking, furniture production and other areas is of interest. "We want to set up joint ventures in Uzbekistan, as we have a big market for your country," Jamshed Urakov emphasized.

After greetings from the event organizers, the business meeting continued with the participants' presentations. In particular, representatives of Bellegprom and Bellesbumprom concerns, as well as of the Belarusian Universal Commodity Exchange dwelled on the potential of Belarusian organizations in the fields of light industry, woodworking, and the possibility of using the exchange mechanism by enterprises of the two countries in mutual trade.

Traditionally, the business meeting was concluded with business negotiations. Besides, guests from Uzbekistan continued their acquaintance with Belarus and its potential directly at some enterprises around the country, where they could personally assess the level of production and quality of products.

The BelCCI Chairman expressed confidence that bilateral meetings and acquaintance of business representatives of the two countries during the visit to Belarusian enterprises would allow them to come up with joint projects. "Industrial cooperation between Belarus and Uzbekistan will give a new impetus to bilateral development. Talks will probably contribute to the creation of joint ventures, as well as the opening of our plants in Uzbekistan. And our Uzbek partners have a desire to open a large trading house in Belarus to sell their high-quality products. It is one of the issues to be discussed during the visit," Mikhael Miatlikov summarized.

The Trading House of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Uzbekistan, announced by the BelCCI Chairman, has already been registered in Minsk. It will be ready to present light and food industry products from Uzbek manufacturers to Belarusian visitors in the near future.

101_01_07.jpg

Thus, the events held by the Chambers of Commerce and Industry of Belarus and Uzbekistan demonstrate the great interest of the two countries' businesses in cooperation.

Once again, this interest was revealed at the Uzbek-Belarusian Business Council meeting in Tashkent on February 6. The participants – more than 80 representatives of organizations and companies from the two countries – exchanged views on promising areas for expanding cooperation in the fields of agriculture, meat and dairy production, environmental protection and development of technologies in this area, and the pulp and paper industry. Besides, presentations of the opportunities for investment partnership of Belarusian and Uzbek enterprises were delivered.

A noticable intensification of the Belarus-Uzbekistan business contacts, undoubtedly, will contribute to conquering new horizons of trade turnover – in particular, reaching one billion dollars in mutual trade, which has been repeatedly stated by the sides, including at the highest state level.