Uzbekistan and Germany: active cooperation and new investment projects.

On May 2 of this year, on the eve of the visit of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Sh.M.Mirziyoyev to the Federal Republic of Germany, an Uzbek–German business forum was held in Berlin by the Investment Promotion Agency with the support of the Ministry of Investment, Industry and Trade. The event was attended by over 250 heads of large companies, holdings and industrial enterprises, banks, ministries, departments and industry associations of the two countries.

Speaking with a welcoming speech, Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Uzbekistan Jamshid Khodjayev stressed the active development of bilateral relations between Uzbekistan and Germany in recent years, which became possible thanks to the trust and political will of the Heads of both states. There has been an increase in the volume of mutual trade turnover, which has doubled over the past 5 years. By the end of 2022, the indicators of bilateral trade increased by another 50% and, for the first time, exceeded 1 billion euros.

Consistent dynamics is also observed in investment cooperation and industrial cooperation. The number of enterprises established in Uzbekistan with the participation of German capital has grown almost 3 times in a few years and exceeded 200 units. The total volume of mastered German investments has grown 11 times since 2017 and today amounts to more than 4 billion Euro. Many German companies such as MAN, CLAAS, Knauf, GP Papenburg, Viessmann, Deutsche Kabel, LEMKEN are already actively and very successfully doing business in Uzbekistan.

During the event, the attention of the German business community was drawn to the conditions created in our country for comfortable work of foreign investors, as well as the strengths of the economy of Uzbekistan. Among other things, high human resources, strategic geographical location, free trade regimes with CIS countries, GSP+ beneficiary status, active work on joining the World Trade Organization, rich raw materials and direct support of the country’s Leadership and government in the implementation of joint projects and initiatives.

The most promising areas for building long-term cooperation are energy, chemical, food and textile industries, metallurgy, automotive, agriculture, production of building materials, electrical engineering, as well as pharmaceuticals and healthcare.

Representatives of German business highly appreciated the results of economic reforms implemented in Uzbekistan, which resulted in, among other things, comfortable working conditions for foreign investors in the country. A firm commitment was expressed to increase cooperation and develop new joint projects.

Following the results of the business forum, 23 agreements were signed, two of which were signed between the Agency for Attracting Foreign Investment “GIERUS GmbH” and “TEC-Components GmbH” in the amount of 10 million euros.