12.03.2021

In the second half of the day of March 12, the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev held talks with the Federal Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel via videoconference.

Nowadays Germany, being one of the leading world powers, confidently holds a leading position in various industries and fields of the global economy as a recognized industrial and technological flagship.

In addition, the German side is actively involved in promoting the international initiatives to overcome the consequences of the pandemic, providing great practical assistance to the countries of the world, including Uzbekistan.

In particular, with the assistance of Germany through the COVAX Initiative, the first large batch of coronavirus vaccines will arrive in our country by the end of the month. In addition, close cooperation has been established with the Robert Koch Institute, a distinguished European research center in the field of the study of infectious diseases.

The agenda of the current summit of the leaders of Uzbekistan and Germany includes the issues of further enhancing the multifaceted cooperation between the countries in the face of increasing crisis in the world caused by the challenging epidemiological situation.

The President of Uzbekistan and the Chancellor of Germany emphasized with great pleasure that the joint implementation of the agreements reached during the high-level meetings in Berlin two years ago, ensure the steady dynamic in the development of the bilateral relations.

The President expressed his gratitude to the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany for the constant support of the new course of democratic transformations, as well as for the expansion of the program of financial and technical assistance to socio-economic reforms in the country.

A special attention was paid to the issues of economic interaction. Germany is traditionally a key technological and investment partner of Uzbekistan.

In recent years, the trade has grown by 1.5 times, about 50 new joint ventures have been established. Such well-known German companies as «MAN», «Claas», «Knauf» and «Papenburg» are actively operating in Uzbekistan. For the first time, «Volkswagen» and «Viessmann» entered the market after a long break, «Siemens» and «Bosch» have returned. Last year, the volume of investments by German companies in the economy of our country exceeded $700 million.

At the meeting, an agreement was reached on supporting joint projects, business contacts and initiatives, as well as increasing the activities of leading German companies and banking institutions in Uzbekistan.

A regular meeting of the Uzbek-German Business Council is scheduled for May this year with a view to discussing the new areas of cooperation, mainly in the field of industrial clusters development, digitalization and the «green economy», promoting the projects in the field of renewable energy.

It was agreed to continue the interactions on the issues of our country’s accession to the World Trade Organization, as well as in the framework of a constructive dialogue with the European Union, including the early completion of the preparation of an Agreement on Enhanced Partnership and Cooperation.

The importance of enhancing cooperation in such priority areas as ensuring human rights and freedoms, combating corruption and gender equality was emphasized.

In the field of humanitarian exchanges, the initiative was supported to expand the study of the German language in Uzbekistan and the adoption of a corresponding state program.

The President of Uzbekistan and the Chancellor of Germany also exchanged views on the current international agenda and interaction in the framework of global and regional structures.

The policy of our country to strengthen the relations of friendship, good-neighborliness, trust and partnership in Central Asia was supported. The efforts to facilitate the peace process in Afghanistan and promote the regional infrastructure projects in the field of transport and energy for this purpose were highly appreciated.

At the end of the talks, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev invited Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel to visit the Republic of Uzbekistan.

The meeting of the leaders of Uzbekistan and Germany took place in a traditionally open, constructive, business and friendly environment