Azernews.Az

By Kamila Aliyeva

Another round of negotiations was held in Istanbul between Uzbekistan and Turkey on establishing preferential trade between the two countries, the Uzbek Ministry of Foreign Trade reported.

“In Istanbul on March 15, 2018, within the framework of the visit of the delegation of Uzbekistan, representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Trade met with General Director for Agreements from Turkish Economy Ministry Mehmet Iskin,” the ministry said.

The meeting discussed the conditions for signing a bilateral agreement on preferential trade. In case it is signed, both states will be able to provide each other with a more favorable regime in comparison with the third countries, based on the advantages in the form of lowering customs duties and other preferences.

According to the press service of the ministry, during the meeting the issues of holding the next meeting of the intergovernmental commission on trade-economic and scientific-technical cooperation between Uzbekistan and Turkey in April 2018 were also considered.

At the invitation of the Uzbek side, at the end of March 2018, the delegation of the Turkish Economy Ministry plans to visit Uzbekistan to hold consultations on the prospects for expanding bilateral trade and economic cooperation.

Turkey is one of the most important trade partners of Uzbekistan. In 2016, the mutual trade turnover between the countries reached $1.2 billion. In February 2017, Turkey and Uzbekistan signed cooperation agreement to boost economic relations.

There are currently about 700 companies in Uzbekistan with Turkish capital, 100 of which are representation offices. They carry out activities in the sectors of textile, food, hotel management, building materials, plastic, medication, and services. The investments of the Turkish side in the economy of Uzbekistan are about $ 1 billion.

There are 114 companies in Turkey with Uzbek capital. Only last year more than 20 enterprises with the participation of Turkey's investments were organized and 53 companies were accredited in Uzbekistan.

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Kamila Aliyeva is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Kami_Aliyeva

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