Uzbekistan has taken the initiative to hold an interregional forum with the participation of China and five Central Asian countries. The proposal was announced by the Minister for Investment, Industry and Trade of Uzbekistan Laziz Kudratov at a videoconference of the heads of trade and economic ministries of China, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.
Kudratov stressed the importance of continuing work on deepening interregional development. In this context, he proposed to hold a Forum of heads of regions of Central Asia and China in the second half of this year in Uzbekistan in order to boost partnership between business circles and determine new growth points.
The minister also called for for effective use of the huge transit potential of the Central Asia–China region and the development of system solutions to ensure uninterrupted cargo flow and the development of cross-border logistics networks.
At the meeting, the ministers discussed the prospects for enhancing digital trade. An initiative has been voiced to develop a “Program for the development of economy and trade in the era of digitalization”, which will envisage the creation of Intellectual Silk Road platform based on IT parks of the countries of the region.
During the first meeting of Ministers of Economy and Trade of Central Asia+China format exchanged views on the current state and prospects for further development of trade, economic and investment cooperation between the countries, including in the field of liberalization and simplification of trade procedures, attracting investment, expanding the multilateral trading system, increasing the volume of mutual supplies of products, the introduction of the digital economy, the development of transport infrastructure, the Uzbek Ministry for Investment, industry and trade said. ///nCa, 21 April 2023