Opening the meeting, BadriddinAbidov thanked the European side for its support to Uzbekistan's reforms, and announced the key directions of the country's development within the framework of the Uzbekistan 2030 Strategy aimed at ensuring sustainable economic growth, strengthening the judicial system, transforming education, health and social protection systems, and combating environmental challenges.
The key targets of the Strategy were noted, in particular, bringing GDP to 160 billion dollars by 2030 and per capita income to 4 thousand dollars, as well as attracting 110 billion dollars of foreign direct investment, increasing the share of industrial and technological products from 25% to 32% of GDP, ensuring the growth of portfolio investments by 3-5% There are other tasks every year. The European side expressed its readiness to provide the country with all possible assistance to achieve its goals.
The issues of the current state and prospects for expanding further cooperation in the areas of improving law enforcement practice, protecting human rights and freedoms, as well as the agenda of political partnership for 2024 were discussed. In Uzbekistan, appropriate measures are being taken on a systematic basis to improve the current legislation.
The sides exchanged views on the further development of financial, technical, trade, economic and investment cooperation. The main focus is on measures to liberalize and simplify trade procedures using the benefits of the Universal System of Preferences (GSP+) of the European Union.
In this context, the dynamics of the growth of trade turnover between Uzbekistan and the EU is highly appreciated. In just 10 months of 2023, the volume of mutual trade increased by 36% compared to the same period last year and amounted to $ 4.8 billion. Mutual conviction was expressed in the need to continue systematic work in this direction. The growth in the export of products from Uzbekistan to the EU countries was particularly noted, since 2021 the indicator has increased 1.5 times - to 794.6 million dollars by the end of 2022.
A separate discussion was held on the partnership in the energy sector, the main goal of which is to achieve a 1.5-fold reduction in the energy intensity of the Uzbek economy and increase its energy efficiency by 20 percent by 2030. In this area, 28 agreements on the construction of large-scale solar and wind power plants with a total capacity of 11.5 GW have been concluded on the basis of public-private partnerships. Another 16 projects with a capacity of 12.8 GW are at the design and negotiation stage. The European side will provide the necessary consulting support to the processes of developing and implementing green energy projects.
When discussing the issue of further development of cooperation in the field of cargo transportation and logistics, the European side expressed its readiness to support Uzbekistan's efforts to diversify transport corridors and, in particular, through the development of the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route.
Following the results of the event, the parties confirmed their mutual commitment to further develop a favorable environment for cooperation between Uzbekistan and the EU, including through the formation of relevant documents on cooperation in trade, economic and investment spheres.
