UAE and Uzbekistan explore trade and investment partnership prospects; German company Airport Consulting will help to build Tashkent-East airport; Kazakhstan offers Uzbekistan a way to enter the EAEU market; Gold and currency reserves of Uzbekistan grew sharply; American Air Products Corporation to establish a joint venture in Uzbekistan for producing industrial gases;
UAE and Uzbekistan explore trade and investment partnership prospects
The third session of the Joint Economic Committee between the UAE and Uzbekistan was held recently in Tashkent, the Uzbek capital. The Committee was chaired by Sultan Bin Saeed Al Mansouri, Minister of Economy, representing the UAE Government, and Ganiev Elyor Majidovich, Deputy Prime Minister of Uzbekistan. Mohammed Hareb Al Mehairbi, UAE Ambassador to Uzbekistan, also attended the meeting.
As part of the Committee’s agenda, both countries agreed to enhance economic, trade and technical cooperation based on a number of policies and programs, including a range of priority sectors of shared interests. Most notably, the UAE and Uzbekistan agreed to increase trade exchange volume and investments in renewable energy, agriculture, food production, textile, infrastructure and tourism sectors, as well as cooperation in small and medium-sized enterprises, civil aviation, tourism, manufacturing, financial sector and Halal industry.
Both parties also agreed to implement mutually beneficial investments with the support of a joint venture company with a declared capital of $1 billion. These are currently underway and are being established by the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development and the Uzbek Fund for Reconstruction and Development.
German company Airport Consulting will help to build Tashkent-East airport
The German company Airport Consulting partners GmbH Beratende Ingenieure will form a council of engineers and technical supervision of the construction of the civil aviation airport complex based on the Tashkent-East airfield.
Following the meeting in Tashkent, Uzbekiston Temir Yollari and Airport Consulting partners GmbH Beratende Ingenieure signed a contract, the press service of the company reported.
“During the meeting, the parties focused on the creation of civil aviation at the international level, in particular, on the construction of runways in accordance with international requirements and standards,” – the statement said.
During the negotiations they discussed the issues of technical and technological safety and the use of the latest technologies in the construction of buildings and structures in the region.
Kazakhstan offers Uzbekistan a way to enter the EAEU market
On March 13, Kazakh-Uzbek business forum was held in Tashkent with participation of more than 200 businessmen of the two countries. During the forum, Kazakhstan offered Uzbekistan to participate in joint agricultural projects to enter the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) market, said Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan, Yermek Kosherbayev.
“We invited the Uzbek businessmen to take a broad part in our agricultural projects, since Kazakhstan is a large platform for entering the market of the Eurasian Economic Union,” Kosherbayev said at the forum.
“In order to further increase trade, we have planned to create an international center for trade-economic cooperation in Central Asia at the border of the two countries,” the Deputy Minister said.
Gold and currency reserves of Uzbekistan grew sharply
According to the Central Bank data, gold and currency reserves of Uzbekistan have been growing steadily for the last four months. As of March 1, 2019, the total gold and foreign exchange reserves amounted to $28 billion, foreign currency assets were equal to $13.2 billion, gold – to $14.4 billion. Net gold and foreign exchange reserves amounted to $27.4 billion.
For comparison, in February, the volume of gross foreign exchange reserves amounted to $27.2 billion, foreign currency assets – $12.6 billion, and gold – $14.5 billion. Net gold and foreign exchange reserves were recorded at $26.6 billion. From the beginning of the year net reserves grew by almost $1 billion ($26.3 billion on January 1).
American Air Products Corporation to establish a joint venture in Uzbekistan for producing industrial gases
The meeting between Minister of Energy Alisher Sultanov and President of Air Products Corporation (USA) Mr. Seifi Ghasemi was held in Tashkent, the press service of the Ministry of Energy of Uzbekistan reports.
In the framework of the meeting, the following agreements between Air Products and Uzbekneftegaz were signed:
- “Agreement on conditions for establishing a joint venture for producing industrial gases” worth $450 million;
- “Memorandum of understanding on the study of possibility of organizing the production of helium from natural gas”.
Within the framework of cooperation with Air Products, the issue of joint implementation of an investment project for deep processing of natural gas based on the technology “methanol to olefins” (MTO) and production of petrochemical products with high added value has also been discussed.