Uzbek Minister of Investment to QNA: Joint Business Working Group Plan to Enhance Qatari-Uzbek Cooperation 

 

 

Doha, June 06 (QNA) - HE Minister of Investment, Industry and Trade of the Republic of Uzbekistan Laziz Kudratov revealed a plan to establish a joint working group between the Ministry of Investment, Industry and Trade of Uzbekistan and the Ministry of Commerce and Industry (MOCI) of the State of Qatar and to adopt a joint program on trade and industrial cooperation which includes joint mechanisms and projects, in addition to organizing a visit by Qatari business circles to Uzbekistan in June to hold a joint business forum.

    In a statement to Qatar News Agency (QNA), HE affirmed that the volume of trade between the State of Qatar and his country does not rise to the size of bilateral relations, as it did not exceed USD 4.8 million in 2022, stressing that the two sides need to develop joint measures to increase the volume of bilateral trade by ensuring its diversification, including the effective and timely implementation of all existing bilateral agreements, identifying new areas of mutually beneficial cooperation, establishing bilateral cooperation between business entities in the two countries, identifying obstacles, and finding solutions to increase the volume of trade.

    His Excellency referred to his visit to Doha last May, where he discussed with officials in the State of Qatar ways to enhance cooperation in several fields and addressed issues of common interest, explaining that the meeting he had with HE Minister of Commerce and Industry Sheikh Mohammed bin Hamad bin Qassim Al Abdullah Al-Thani resulted in agreements to establish a joint working group between the Ministry of Investment, Industry and Trade of Uzbekistan and the MOCI in Qatar, in addition to the adoption of a joint program on trade and industrial cooperation, which includes mechanisms and joint projects, and organizing the visit of Qatari business circles to Uzbekistan this June to hold a joint business forum.

  HE pointed out that the participation of the Qatari delegation, headed by HE Undersecretary of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry Sultan bin Rashid Al Khater, in the second Tashkent International Investment Forum shows the interest of the Qatari side in developing cooperation and exchanging benefits between the two countries, indicating that economies of the two countries are not in a competitive position, but rather cooperation is possible to establish production capacities to enter the markets of third countries. Qatar can also serve as a bridge to Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states, Middle East, and North African markets, he added.

    At the end of his statement to QNA, HE Minister of Investment, Industry and Trade of the Republic of Uzbekistan Laziz Kudratov stressed that the two countries have great potential but are still not used to increase the current indicators of bilateral trade and investment up to ten times in the near future. (QNA)