07.07.2020 10:37
On July 6, a meeting was held between the Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Investments and Foreign Trade of the Republic of Uzbekistan, Sardor Umurzakov, and the Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy of the Republic of Korea, Sung Yun-mo, in Seoul. The parties discussed current trends in development of investment and trade-economic cooperation, as well as mechanisms for its further expansion.
Positive dynamics in development of mutual trade was noted. In 2019, the trade turnover between Uzbekistan and Korea grew by 27 percent and amounted to .7 billion, which is the highest figure in the last 5 years. According to the general opinion of the meeting participants, at the moment there are all the prerequisites for bringing the volume of mutual trade to billion by 2023.
In this context, an agreement was reached on an accelerated transition to the stage of interagency coordination of the draft Free Trade Agreement, preliminary studies on which were completed at the end of June this year.
The format of cooperation was also agreed upon within the framework of further implementation of the project on creating the National Online Platform for Electronic Commerce of Uzbekistan, which is carried out at the expense of attracted grant funds from Korea.
Issues of facilitating access to the Korean market of fresh and processed fruit and vegetable products of Uzbekistan were discussed, for which it is planned to intensify the interaction of quarantine services of the two countries, the purpose of which will be to increase the quality and competitiveness of products exported by Uzbekistan and gain access to the markets of other countries with a high level of domestic market protection. In this direction, the Korean side will assist in the creation of modern laboratories in plant quarantine in Uzbekistan, as well as in training personnel.
An agreement was reached on holding the tenth meeting of Uzbekistan – Korean Intergovernmental Committee on Trade and Economic Cooperation, as well as organizing a business forum with involvement of businesspeople of the two countries in October this year, in Seoul.
