By November 2022, Baku and Tashkent are going to agree on a road map for the creation of a joint investment fund and sign an appropriate intergovernmental agreement, Azerbaijani Ambassador to Uzbekistan Huseyn Guliyev said.
“Azerbaijan will have 75% of the investment fund, Uzbekistan will have 25%. There is an agreement on the approval of the road map for the creation of the fund and the signing of the relevant intergovernmental agreement by November 2022,” Guliyev said in an interview with the Azerbaijani portal vergiler.az (the press organ of the State Tax Service).
According to him, the parties also plan to sign an intergovernmental agreement in the field of tourism.
The ambassador noted that in the first half of 2022, mutual trade between Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan increased by 83.7%, to $87.5 million. “The parties are faced with the task of bringing the volume of trade to $1 billion as soon as possible. In November, the first forum of regions will be held in Tashkent, exhibitions of national manufacturers will also be held, the first meeting of the Azerbaijan-Uzbekistan Business Council, mutual trade missions will be organized, work will continue to increase cargo transportation along the Trans-Caspian transport route,” he stressed.
Guliyev added that Baku and Tashkent also plan to implement a number of joint investment projects. “In particular, there is an agreement on the creation of a silk production cluster in 6 regions of Azerbaijan around Barda, investments in the project are estimated at $1 million, organization of export of products to third countries. In addition, it is planned to create joint textile enterprises in the Alyat economic zone and on the territory of the Mingachevir industrial park; a pilot agricultural park on an area of 50 hectares in Yevlakh for growing silkworms; in the first quarter of 2023, the creation of a laboratory for growing seedlings (all these projects will be on the territory of Azerbaijan – IF). In Uzbekistan, it is planned to create a joint venture for the production of jewelry, investments in the project will amount to $1.2 million,” the ambassador said.
Guliyev stressed that so far, Azerbaijan’s investments in Uzbekistan amounted to $23.8 million. In turn, investments from Uzbekistan into the Azerbaijani economy amounted to $18.4 million.
As previously reported, on August 1, 2022, Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan agreed to establish an investment fund to implement joint projects worth more than $500 million.
Ritmeurasia.org,
August 16, 2022