Uzbekistan-Russia: new stage in strategic partnership

As reported earlier, President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov paid on official visit on 25-26 April to Moscow at the invitation of President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin.

On 25 April an informal meeting of Islam Karimov and Vladimir Putin took place. A sincere and detailed talk of the presidents continued longer that planned. The parties extensively exchanged views on Uzbek-Russian relations and events, taking place in different regions of the world.

Main events of the visit took place on 26 April in the Kremlin. During the meeting of Islam Karimov and Vladimir Putin the issues of developing cooperation in political, trade, economic, investment, military, technical, cultural-humanitarian and other spheres have been discussed.

Islam Karimov highlighted that the visit will provide a new impulse to develop interactions and is a good opportunity for comprehensive exchange of views on topical issues of regional and international politics.

Vladimir Putin particularly underlined that Uzbekistan is a strategic partner and a trusted ally of Russia and these relations have been evolving dynamically.

The cooperation between Uzbekistan and Russia is founded on a solid contractual-legal base. The relations between our countries have been steadily developing within the framework of the Treaty on strategic partnership, signed on 16 June 2004 and the Treaty on allied relations, signed on 14 November 2005.

Intergovernmental and inter-agency ties serve as a main factor in coordinating actions and implementing agreements, reached during the meetings on the highest level. Uzbekistan and Russia have been productively collaborating within the frameworks of such international organizations as the UN, the SCO and the CIS.

Presidents of the two countries exchanged views on the issues of regional and international politics, in particular, the Afghanistan issue, countering terrorism, extremism, narcotics trafficking and organized crime.

During the meeting a particular attention was paid to the activities, carried out within the framework of Uzbekistan’s chairmanship at the SCO. The significance of actions and efforts of Uzbekistan, aimed at further stimulating the activity of the organization, developing regional cooperation, strengthening peace and security, were stressed. Vladimir Putin highlighted that Russia supports new initiatives of Uzbekistan, which are planned for discussion at the SCO Tashkent summit in June.

Trade and economic cooperation has a specific place in Uzbek-Russian relations. In accordance with the Program of economic cooperation for 2013-2017 and the intergovernmental agreement on main directions of developing and deepening economic cooperation for 2015-2019, the relations of our countries in the area have been consistently developing.

Russia is the second largest foreign trade partner of Uzbekistan. Uzbekistan exports transport vehicles, cotton yarn, textiles, fruits and vegetables, non-ferrous and ferrous metals, services to Russia. Russia ships to our country transport vehicles, chemical and cellulose-paper products, food products.

Over 900 joint ventures with Russian partners operate in Uzbekistan. 85 Russian firms and companies have opened their representative offices in our country. The volume of mutual trade turnover has been on the rise. In this first quarter the indicators have risen by 7.9 per cents.

The investment cooperation has also been steadily mounting. In recent years Russian investments to the economy of our country have reached over 6 billion US dollars. Last year this indicator increased for 40% in comparison to 2014.

Both Uzbekistan and Russia possess a huge potential in oil and gas sector, which plays an important role in developing cooperation in this area. Russian oil and gas companies Lukoil and Gazrpom are actively taking part in exploration and development of hydrocarbon fields in our country. On 19 April this year a construction of Kandym Gas processing complex was commenced in Bukhara region by Uzbekneftegaz national holding company in cooperation with Lukoil.

Cars made in Uzbekistan are always in demand in Russia. Such Uzbek cars as Matiz and Nexia have been recognized numerous times as the car of the year in Russia. In the first quarter of this year the sales of Ravon Gentra cars have increased by 7 per cent.

The demand for agricultural products is high in the Russian Federation. Uzbekistan possesses a huge potential in this area. The resolution of the head of our state “On measures to improve the system of procurement and use of fruits and vegetable production, potato and melons” from 12 April this year has created even wider opportunities in this sphere.

During the negotiations, an agreement has been reached to increase the volumes and assortment of exports of fruits and vegetables, grown and processed in our country. The issues of increasing the mutual trade, developing investment cooperation, widening ties in transport and transit spheres have been discussed. It was underlined that Uzbekistan and Russia have non-realized opportunities for further development of cooperation. Their implementation will be mutually advantageous for both parties.

The parties exchanged views on the issues of broadening interactions in culture, science, education, sports and tourism.

Following the negotiations, the documents on cooperation between the Republic of Uzbekistan and the Russian Federation in cultural-humanitarian sphere, in foreign policy, higher education, sports and others have been signed.

At the meeting with representatives of mass media Islam Karimov and Vladimir Putin emphasised that the negotiations took place in the spirit of openness and mutual trust, the parties extensively exchanged views on the issues of strengthening regional security and further development of cooperation. This has allowed to assess the current state of bilateral relations, determine priority directions of their further development. The similarity or proximity of positions of the parties on considered issues has been underscored.

The official visit of President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov has been concluded. During the negotiations, which served as a logical continuation of dialogue on the highest level, the main directions and prospects of developing strategic partnership between our countries have been determined, which will serve the interests of the peoples of Uzbekistan and Russia.

(Source: UzA)

economy

Uzstroymateriali enterprises produce materials worth 551.7 billion soums

According to the press service of JSC "Uzstroymateriali", following the results of January-March 2016 the enterprises operating within the structure of the company produced commodity output in established prices for the sum of 551.7 billion soums (currency rates of CB RU from 28.04.2016, 1$= 2899.25 soums). The growth rate compared with the corresponding period of 2015 in comparable prices made up 106.1%.

During the period under review, the enterprises produced consumer goods worth 42.8 billion soums or 103.3% to the corresponding period of 2015.

(Source: UzReport.uz)

Ecology

Energy of the Future

Tashkent has hosted a big forum on the development of renewable and alternative energy. Green Forum - 2016 has not only provided an opportunity for industry representatives to discuss the state and prospects of the sector, but to come up with specific proposals to contribute to the development of renewable energy sources.

During the forum, Tashkent has turned into a kind of a capital for experts, researchers and businessmen who are engaged in building the environmentally friendly and energy-efficient future.

Effective and rational use of energy resources ranks among the priorities in all sectors of the economy in Uzbekistan. The focus is laid on the replacement of worn-out and outdated production capacities with energy-saving technologies, their exclusive application in new projects, the introduction of electric and gas-saving equipment in the production process, the reasonable use of available raw materials, as well as the promotion of recycling projects, distribution of renewable energy sources (RES) in major and auxiliary production facilities.

Research works in the field of energy generation, transmission and consumption, taking into account the use of renewable energy and exchange of experience with international experts, are seen essential in this context, the more so Uzbekistan has been actively exploring the legislative, technological and innovative experience of Germany, Spain, South Korea, involving experts and practitioners in energy efficiency, conservation and renewable energy sources.

Experts predict that the share of renewable energy in the energy balance of Uzbekistan will exceed 7% by 2030. Electricity generation will increase by 5 billion kW/h through the reconstruction and construction of new hydroelectric power stations alone.

“The use of renewable energy on the industrially significant scale would significantly reduce the natural gas consumption in the country for the generation of electric and heat energy, and, consequently, emissions of harmful substances into the environment. Therefore, we need to develop the mechanisms that will help us to strengthen energy independence. This comes to diversification of fuel resources, an increase in the share of coal, water resources and renewables, shift to the path of energy-efficient development and the production, in which the share of intellectual investment exceeds the share of energy intensity,” said the head of laboratory at the Institute of Energy and Automation of the Academy of Sciences of Uzbekistan Romen Zahidov.

Uzbekistan possesses exclusive opportunities for the development of solar energy in terms of geographical location and climatic conditions. The number of sunny days exceeds 320 days per year, which is advantageous to many regions of the world.

According to experts, the gross potential of solar energy in Uzbekistan exceeds 51 billion tons of oil equivalent. These resources can produce electricity that exceeds the volume of annual consumption 40 times. The country has developed a wind map, which suggests that wind energy potential is estimated at more than 520,000 MW of installed capacity.

(Source: «Uzbekistan Today» newspaper)