On December 14, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Investments and Foreign Trade Sardor Umurzakov met with Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Finance of Japan Taro Aso, in Tokyo.

Current issues of political and trade-economic cooperation between the two countries were discussed at the meeting.

The sides expressed their commitment to the implementation of bilateral agreements reached during the high-level visit to Japan in December 2019, which gave a powerful impetus to the development of strategic cooperation between the two countries, as well as considered the current results of joint activities in this area.

It was noted that economic opportunities of Uzbekistan in synergy with advanced Japanese technologies are a reliable basis for mutually beneficial investment partnership. The project “Development of value chain in the fruit and vegetable sector", implemented with the involvement of financial resources of Japan International Cooperation Agency, was considered as an example of successful cooperation. The implementation of the first phase of this project made it possible to provide financial support for the implementation of 492 investment projects in the agro-industrial sector and employ more than 11 thousand people in rural areas of Uzbekistan.

In this context, the sides agreed on a mechanism for further cooperation on the implementation of the next stages of this project, as well as on a mutual basis recognized the prospects for enhancing mutually beneficial cooperation and implementing new projects in priority areas such as energy, agriculture, chemical industry and infrastructure development.

Following the meeting, Deputy Prime Minister of Japan Taro Aso was awarded the Dustlik (Friendship) Order for his invaluable contribution to the development of bilateral relations between Uzbekistan and Japan.

UzA