On January 30, Tashkent hosted a roundtable discussion on “Cooperation between Uzbekistan and Belarus – New Horizons and Prospects”, organized by the Institute of Strategic and Regional Studies under the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan (ISRS) in partnership with the Belarusian Institute of Strategic Research (BISR).

The event was attended by heads of diplomatic missions, leadership, and representatives of expert-analytical, scientific, and academic circles of the two countries.

The Belarusian side was represented by leaders and experts from such reputable research institutes as BISR, the National Centre for Marketing and Price Study, the State University of Transport, Vitebsk State University named after P.M. Masherov, and other institutions.

The heads of ISRS, the Institute of Macroeconomic and Regional Studies, the Information and Analytical Center for International Relations, the Center for Economic Research and Reforms, the Center for the Study of Problems of Transport and Logistics Development, the Uzbekistan Railways JSC, and the Agency of Information and Mass Communications attended the event from the Uzbek side.

As noted by the ISRS First Deputy Director Akramjon Nematov, during the roundtable discussion, views were exchanged on the current state and prospects for further developing bilateral cooperation in trade, economics, investment, industrial cooperation, transport, and logistics connectivity, as well as enhancing cultural and humanitarian dialogue.

According to the expert, the participants were unanimous in the opinion that trusting and friendly relations between Uzbekistan and Belarus have reached a new level in recent years.

In many ways, this became possible thanks to mutual visits of the heads of the two states and their regular communication on international platforms.

Since 2017, several meetings between the leaders of the two states have taken place. President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko paid an official visit to Uzbekistan in 2018 and a working visit in 2022. In turn, the President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev visited Belarus in 2019.

At the same time, active dialogue maintained at the intergovernmental, interparliamentary, and interdepartmental levels is essential in strengthening cooperation.

Since 2022, regular meetings have been held between the heads of the two governments. There is an Intergovernmental Commission on Bilateral Cooperation. Meetings of the Uzbekistan – Belarus Business Council and the Working Group on Agriculture and Food Industry are held regularly.

Interparliamentary ties are enhancing. Since 2018, the Interparliamentary Cooperation Group has been operating between the Oliy Majlis of the Republic of Uzbekistan and the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus.

In 2018, an official visit of the delegation of the Senate of the Oliy Majlis of the Republic of Uzbekistan to Belarus took place. In 2022, the parliamentary delegation of the Council of the Republic of the National Assembly of Belarus took part in the events of the Interparliamentary Assembly of the CIS Member States in Samarkand. In 2023, parliamentarians of Uzbekistan visited Minsk. Legislators of the two countries cooperate within the framework of such international organizations as the CIS Interparliamentary Assembly and the Inter-Parliamentary Union.

Contacts are maintained through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In recent years, 3 meetings of the heads of foreign affairs agencies have taken place. Inter-MFA consultations are conducted on an ongoing basis.

Akramjon Nematov emphasized that the proactive measures taken by the two states to enhance interaction gave powerful dynamics to trade relations between Uzbekistan and Belarus. Trade, economic, and investment cooperation between countries has shown robust and stable growth in recent years.

“Thanks to joint efforts in recent years, for the first time in the history of bilateral relations, trade turnover has exceeded the half-billion mark”, the expert believes. “At the end of 2022, the volume of mutual trade amounted to $536 million (an increase of 44% compared to 2021) and increased by almost 3.5 times compared to 2017. In 2023, trade turnover increased by 15% compared to the same period in 2022 and amounted to $620 million”.

The main export items of Uzbekistan to Belarus are industrial goods, various finished products, food products, drinks, and tobacco products. The bulk of imports from the Republic of Belarus are food products, machinery, transport equipment, and non-food raw materials. At the same time, most of the imports account for vehicles and electrical equipment necessary for modernizing the industrial sector of our country’s economy.

Belarusian investors demonstrate an interest in Uzbekistan by investing in producing cotton yarn, building materials, pharmaceuticals, leather goods, and the provision of trade intermediary and freight forwarding services.

At the event, it was stated that the total volume of Belarusian investments over the past 3 years had increased 3 times and amounted to $45.6 million, including $9.5 million in 2022 and $21.2 million in 2023 (January-October). At the same time, there are all the prerequisites for increasing this figure. The number of joint ventures demonstrates a serious commitment to deepening cooperation.

Thus, in 2017, the number of enterprises operating in Uzbekistan with the participation of Belarusian capital was 22, including 19 joint ventures and 3 foreign enterprises. Today, their number has increased to 209, including 65 joint ventures and 146 foreign enterprises. In turn, more than 100 joint ventures are currently operating in Belarus.

According to Tursun Akhmedov, Deputy Director of the Institute for Macroeconomic and Regional Studies, the first bilateral women’s business forum held in Minsk in 2023 became an effective tool for developing business cooperation between Belarus and Uzbekistan. As a result, 42 contracts were signed for $92.2 million and 17 memorandums of cooperation in trade, economic, investment, scientific, technical, socio-cultural, educational, humanitarian, tourism, and other fields.

The countries express interest in opportunities to enhance cooperation in mechanical engineering. Together with Belarusian partners, transport and special equipment are supplied to Uzbekistan.

Cooperation in healthcare has been established and is developing successfully. In 2018, an agreement was signed between the ministries of health of the two countries, and an Action Plan for the development of cooperation is being implemented. Over the past 2 years, the practice of training Uzbekistan doctors in Belarus to provide high-tech care to newborns has been established.

Cooperation in the pharmaceutical industry is deepening. Today, the parties jointly produce medicines. A clear example is constructing an enterprise by the Belarusian side in Uzbekistan to produce probiotics.

The countries are productively interacting in the development of the light industry. In 2023, enterprises from Uzbekistan and Belarus signed contracts worth more than $2.5 million. The parties plan to create a joint venture to produce fur and fur raw materials. An agreement was reached on cooperation between the Uzbekistan Textile and Garment Industry Association and the design center Kamvol OJSC.

Interregional ties have noticeably intensified in recent years, and direct business contacts between the regions of Uzbekistan and Belarus are being successfully implemented. The forums are held in the two countries. The first Forum of Regions of Belarus and Uzbekistan took place in 2019 during President Shavkat Mirziyoyev’s visit to Minsk.

This made it possible to bring the work of special partnership programs between the regional administrations of Uzbekistan and Belarus to a high-efficiency level. In February 2020, delegations of farmers representing all regions of Belarus visited Uzbekistan to participate in the Uzbekistan – Belarus Agrarian Forum.

Contracts have been signed for the supply of Uzbekistan agricultural products to Belarus for $25 million. In 2022-2023, visits to Belarus were organized for the administration and business circles of Tashkent, Kashkadarya, Andijan, Fergana, and Tashkent regions.

At the same time, the interaction between the two states in the transport and logistics sector is consistently strengthening. Thus, in 2023, cargo transportation between the two countries amounted to over 752 thousand tons, showing a growth dynamic of 1.54 times compared to the same period in 2022.

According to the head of the Department of the Information and Analytical Center for International Relations, Nigina Magdiyeva, the intensification of bilateral dialogue is also directly manifested in cultural and humanitarian cooperation.

In recent years, creative groups from Belarus have been actively participating in the music festival “Sharq Taronalari” (“Melodies of the East”), and representatives of Uzbekistan have been participating in the international festivals “Slavic Bazaar” in Vitebsk and “Golden Bee”, as well as in the Minsk International Vocal Competition.

In April 2018, the Belarus Culture and Cinema Days in Uzbekistan were held in Tashkent, and in July 2019, the Uzbekistan Culture and Art Days in Belarus. In September 2021, the Uzbek Cinema Days were organized in Minsk, demonstrating several films by Uzbek filmmakers.

Filmmakers from both countries actively participate in international film festivals in Tashkent and Minsk.

In addition, a monument to the classic of Belarusian literature Yakub Kolas was unveiled in Tashkent, and a street was named in his honor. In one of the parks in Minsk, there is a bust of the great Uzbek poet, thinker, and statesman Alisher Navoi.

Cooperation in education is developing dynamically. About 40 universities in Uzbekistan and more than 20 universities in Belarus have launched joint educational programs to train specialists in the areas most in demand in Uzbekistan. In the 2022-2023 academic year, about 1.7 thousand Uzbekistan students studied at 27 universities in Belarus.

More than 80 joint educational programs are being implemented, under which students undergo training and receive dual diplomas – from the Republic of Belarus and the Republic of Uzbekistan.

A symbol of successful cooperation between the two states in education and science was the First Forum of Rectors of the Republic of Uzbekistan and the Republic of Belarus, held in 2023, as a result of which the Roadmap of Cooperation was signed.

At the same time, both states have unique opportunities and potential in the tourism sector. Representatives of the tourism industry of Uzbekistan and Belarus carry out close cooperation within the framework of exhibition sites organized in the two countries. As a result, from 2017 to 2023, the tourist flow from Belarus to Uzbekistan increased 5 times.

Following the event, its participants expressed confidence that despite the dynamics of cooperation, there is every opportunity for further deepening bilateral interaction. Uzbekistan and Belarus have enormous untapped potential that requires detailed study and practical implementation.

In this context, Uzbekistan is interested in further enhancing trade and economic cooperation with the Belarusian side, developing transport infrastructure and building logistics routes, deepening cultural and humanitarian ties and interregional dialogue, increasing tourist flows, etc.

Another key area could be cooperation with Belarusian partners between the leading sectors of the Uzbekistan and Belarusian industries, creating joint industrial and pharmaceutical clusters and integrating information technology and communications.

UzA