The delegations at the Forum were led by Laziz Kudratov, Minister of Investment, Industry and Trade of the Republic of Uzbekistan, from the Uzbek side, and Rabah al-Rabah, Head of the Kuwait Chamber of Commerce and Industry, from the Kuwaiti side.
Speaking at the opening ceremony of the forum with a welcoming speech, Laziz Kudratov emphasized the consistent growth of partnership relations between Uzbekistan and Kuwait in recent years. Large Kuwaiti companies are successfully implementing projects in the fields of healthcare, agriculture, infrastructure, hospitality, pharmaceuticals and real estate in Uzbekistan.
The most comfortable conditions have been created for foreign investors to work: benefits and preferences have been introduced, barriers have been removed, a privatization program is underway, dozens of SEZs with developed infrastructure have been created, and duty-free access to the CIS and EU markets has been provided.
As a result, Uzbekistan's economy has almost doubled in recent years. In 2024 alone, GDP grew by 6.5% to $115 billion. The volume of foreign investments increased 1.6 times and amounted to $ 34.9 billion.
The ambitious Uzbekistan 2030 strategy is being implemented, which, coupled with large-scale, proactive reforms, will increase Uzbekistan's GDP to $200 billion by 2030, achieve the status of an upper-middle-income country with $110 billion in foreign direct investment and $45 billion in exports per year.
At the same time, attention was focused on the huge untapped potential for deepening trade, economic, investment and industrial partnership between the two countries.
In this context, priority areas for further development of cooperation have been identified: the agro-industrial sector, the textile industry, mining, energy and petrochemicals, healthcare and pharmaceuticals, privatization, logistics, communications and tourism.
In turn, the head of the Kuwait Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Rabah al-Rabah, highly appreciated Uzbekistan's efforts to create conditions for the development of bilateral trade, economic and investment cooperation and called on Kuwaiti and Uzbek entrepreneurs to cooperate more actively, assuring them of the mutual willingness of the parties to support new projects and initiatives.
On the sidelines of the business forum, "B2B" and "G2B" negotiations and an exhibition of national products were organized, where entrepreneurs were able to make new useful acquaintances, discuss technical details of joint projects and trade supplies.
As a result of the event, a number of investment agreements and trade contracts were signed, which, according to the entrepreneurs themselves, will significantly expand Uzbek-Kuwaiti relations and increase trade volumes between the two countries in a short time.
