November, 03, 2010

Politics:
Prime Minister of Estonia visiting Uzbekistan
President of Uzbekistan receives Prime Minister of Estonia
Tashkent city’s GRP grows 10.9%

Economics:
Uzbek-Estonian business forum held in Tashkent
Industrial fair and cooperation exchange end

Society:
Amputee football team returns with second world champions title

POLICY

Prime Minister of Estonia visiting Uzbekistan

Prime Minister of Estonia Andrus Ansip arrived on a visit to Uzbekistan. On 1 November, he met the Speaker of the Legislative Chamber of the Oliy Majlis Dilorom Tashmuhamedova.

The sides considered the current state and perspectives of relations between the higher legislative bodies of Uzbekistan and Estonia.

They agreed that both countries had the potential to raise the inter-parliamentary relations to a qualitatively new level and discussed cooperation in this direction.

”Uzbekistan is a stably developing state,” Andrus Ansip said. “There are huge perspectives for development of bilateral relations.”

One area of possible expansion of cooperation is development and processing of mineral resources available in Uzbekistan.

The two countries should also develop relations in the tourism sphere, Estonian Prime Minister continued.

“The people of Estonia know about ancient cities of Uzbekistan like Tashkent, Samarkand, Bukhara and Khiva. We believe tourism cooperation between our states would be efficient,” he noted.

Andrus Ansip also held talks with the Chairman of the Senate Ilgizar Sobirov, which focused on expansion of cooperation between the parliaments and strengthening the related legislative base.

The Prime Minister of Estonia also held negotiations with the Prime Minister of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev. They discussed issues related to trade, economic, investment, scientific, technical, cultural and humanitarian relations between Uzbekistan and Estonia.

President of Uzbekistan receives Prime Minister of Estonia

President of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov received Prime Minister of Estonia Andrus Ansip at Oqsaroy residence in Tashkent on 2 November.
Welcoming the guest, the head of the state expressed satisfaction with the current state and level of development of Uzbek-Estonian relations.

“We consider Estonia as a rapidly developing state, in terms of its developed infrastructure, as well as transit and transport opportunities the country possesses today,” Islam Karimov said.

There are all grounds to use available possibilities for establishment of bilateral relations on a mutually beneficial basis, the President added.
Prime Minister of Estonia thanked the head of Uzbekistan for the warm welcome and emphasized that his country had a great interest in expansion of political and economic cooperation with Uzbekistan.

“This is the first visit of the Prime Minister of Estonia to Uzbekistan, and the purpose is to qualitatively raise the level of relations with Uzbekistan, the acknowledged leader of the region,” Andrus Ansip said.

He agreed with the President of Uzbekistan that all conditions for full-scale cooperation had matured long ago.

The development of bilateral relations between Uzbekistan and Estonia will serve to expansion of the scale of interaction of the Baltic states and the European Union with the countries of Central Asia.

The partnership of the two states covers trade, economic, investment, energy and transport and communication sectors, providing for development of mutually beneficial joint project in textile, pharmaceutical, chemical and other fields of economy and science. One proof of this fact was the Uzbek-Estonian business forum held in Tashkent.

Having a developed transport infrastructure and convenient geographical position, Uzbekistan and Estonia closely cooperate in transport sphere. he investment and logistics potential of the international hub of the Navoi free industrial zone has been acknowledged as one of the most demanded transit junctions of the region.

At the talks in Oqsaroy, President Islam Karimov and Prime Minister Andrus Ansip considered perspectives of bilateral cooperation and other issues of mutual interest.

The gross regional product of Tashkent city increased 10.9% in January-September, it was said at the meeting of the capital administration devoted to the results of the city’s development in the first nine months of 2010.

Industrial production grew by 14.9% and production of consumer goods by 10% in the same period, it was announced.

The city attracted 49.8% more investments in three quarters, construction works increased by 33.7% and service sector by 14.8%. Exports increased by 44.5%. Almost 70,000 new workplaces were created in the reporting period.

In the framework of the state program “Year of harmoniously developed generation”, educational establishments and sports complexes were capitally repaired.

ECONOMY

Uzbek-Estonian business forum held in Tashkent

The forum of business circles of Uzbekistan and Estonia was held in Tashkent on 2 November in the framework of the visit of the Prime Minister of Estonia Andrus Ansip to Uzbekistan.

The event, organized by the Foreign Economic Relations, Investments and Trade Ministry of Uzbekistan and the Commerce and Industry Chamber of Estonia, focused on expansion of trade, economic and investment cooperation between the two states.

Prime Minister of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev expressed hope that the forum would expand bilateral trade and economic relations between Uzbekistan and Estonia.

“We are interested in further expansion of our economic cooperation with Uzbekistan,” Andrus Ansip said. “Both Uzbekistan and Estonia have wide opportunities for expansion of mutually beneficial relations.”

The forum participants considered ties in transport and logistics, banking, IT, industry, tourism, food, light and chemical sectors.

Representatives of many large Estonian companies arrived in Tashkent for talks. Among them were Corpore (public relations), Eesti Energia (energy), Real Systems (IT), Savi (construction), Port of Tallinn and others.

The Estonian businessmen received information on the potential of Uzbekistan in oil and gas, tourist, car building, construction materials and other sectors. They also familiarized with the possibilities for foreign investors in the Navoi free industrial zone.
At the end of the forum, the Uzbek and Estonian businessmen participated in the cooperation exchange.

On the same day, Prime Minister of Estonia visited Uzbek-Swiss-British joint venture Uztex Tashkent, Torino Polytechnic University in Tashkent and the State Museum of Temurids’ History.

Industrial fair and cooperation exchange end

The fourth International industrial fair and Cooperation exchange ended in Tashkent on 30 October.

The forum of industrialists of Uzbekistan was held on the initiative of the President Islam Karimov. Its purpose is to promote cooperation among and within various sectors of economy.

The fair and exchange demonstrated the new products to be manufactured in 2011. The featured sectors included geological survey, processing of raw materials, high technologies, car building, agricultural machinery, electronics, chemical, pharmaceutical, light, food industries, construction materials, transport and others.

Over 650 foreign companies from 51 country participated in the fair this year, along with more than 700 local enterprises and companies.

The fair and exchange resulted in signing of contracts worth over UZS 2.6 trillion in national currency (UZS 2 billion last year) and about USD 3 billion in foreign currency (USD 2.3 billion last year).

SOCIETY

Amputee football team returns with second world champions title

Uzbekistan amputee football team, which defeated Argentina 3-1 in the final match of the 2010 World Cup in Crespo, Argentina (16-24 October), has returned to Tashkent on 30 October. Uzbekistan became the world champion for the second time after their World Cup victory in 2007.

Representatives of government, sportsmen, journalists and sport lovers greeted the national team at the Tashkent international airport.

The Uzbek team defeated Brazil and came with a drew against Iran in the first round of the World Cup, followed by victories over England and Brazil, and a draw against Russia. In the semifinal, the Uzbek players won over Turkey.

“Our players have demonstrated high professionalism and their strong will and courage,” team trainer Rustam Kariyev said.

“During the World Cup, our team had always felt support of our President and the people. When the anthem of Uzbekistan was played in the honor of our players, I saw tears in the eyes of my team,” he added.

Vice Prime Minister of Uzbekistan, chairman of the Women’s Committee Farida Akbarova participated in the ceremony.