Uzbekistan-Türkiye relations will be strengthened in the Century of Türkiye

Our country is the first state to recognize Uzbekistan, which gained its independence on December 16, 1991, and our relations have continued on the basis of brotherhood ever since. The fact that Uzbekistan came to the aid of our country with all its means in the earthquake disaster that took place last month is the best example of this brotherhood and will not be forgotten by the Turkish people.

With the strengthening of the fraternal relationship between our countries, which have signed more than 100 agreements and protocols, through strategic partnership, our economic and commercial cooperation has accelerated, and our bilateral trade has reached 3.6 billion dollars with the contribution of Uzbekistan's reform process. As a result of the effect of the Türkiye-Uzbekistan Preferential Trade Agreement (TTA), which we signed last year and the development of logistics links between our countries, we aim to increase our bilateral trade, which has followed a balanced course, to the 5 billion dollar volume determined by our presidents in a short time.

Our activities are increasing with large-scale projects Our country's investments in Uzbekistan are at the level of 1.5 billion dollars. More than 2000 companies located in Uzbekistan have a large share in this table. Our companies operate in many fields, especially in textile, energy, finance, insurance and metal industry. The necessary facilitating legal infrastructure have also been completed in the context of the mechanisms established for investments, the Agreements on the Prevention of Double Taxation and the Mutual Promotion and Protection of Investments.

Contribution to the competitiveness of the economy of Uzbekistan

Türkiye supports and closely monitors the economic reforms implemented in Uzbekistan under the leadership of President Şevket Mirziyoyev. The successful implementation of the New Uzbekistan's Development Strategy for 2022-2026 will significantly contribute to making Uzbekistan's economy a more competitive economy all over the world, with the systematic continuation of the reform process. In addition, our country continues to contribute to the integration of the Uzbek economy with the world economy by supporting the membership process of Uzbekistan to the World Trade Organization.

Bridge role for the European market

While our country's geopolitical and geoeconomic location, which connects the continents, provides an important advantage in terms of access to commercial routes, our country has become an important production and logistics base. With this feature, Türkiye plays a bridge role in Uzbekistan's access to the European market. The Middle Corridor and the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway line are important in opening up the products produced in Uzbekistan to the world. In this context, importance is given to logistics and transportation both in bilateral platforms between our country and Uzbekistan and in the works carried out under the umbrella of the Organization of Turkish States. In particular, the liberalization of transportation in trade between our countries and the reduction of Caspian Sea tolls to a reasonable level will strengthen both the field of logistics and commercial relations.

We are ready to take all steps to further strengthen our commercial and economic relations with Uzbekistan, which draws its strength from our common history, on both bilateral and multilateral platforms, in the period starting with 2023, which is the 'Century of Türkiye'.