On Tuesday, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin and Uzbek Prime Minister Abdulla Aripov will hold the second meeting of the joint commission at the level of the Russian and Uzbek heads of governments in Moscow.
According to the Russian Cabinet of Ministers, "special attention will be paid to the preparation of the state visit of Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev to the Russian Federation".
According to the press service of the Russian government, the agenda of the meeting includes a wide range of issues of Russian-Uzbek trade, economic, cultural and humanitarian cooperation, including cooperation in the field of industry, energy, transport, agriculture, digital technologies, health and education.
"A number of bilateral intergovernmental and interdepartmental documents are planned to be signed following the meeting of the joint commission," the report said.
Economy
Uzbekistan is one of the leading economic partners of Russia in the CIS. Mutual trade turnover in 2020 increased by 15.6% compared to 2019 - up to $5.9 billion. This is the fourth place among the CIS countries. Russian exports in 2020 increased by 19.2% (to $4.7 billion), imports - by 3.7% (to $1.2 billion).
In January - April 2021 the volume of mutual trade between Russia and Uzbekistan increased by 0.6% compared to the same period in 2020 and amounted to $1.7 billion. Russian exports decreased by 6.8% to $1.3 billion and imports increased by 31.9% to $0.4 billion.
The main Russian investors - LUKOIL, Gazprom and Vympelcom invested over $10 billion in the economy of Uzbekistan. Over 2 thousand joint ventures with Russian capital operate, including those for processing and supply of fruits and vegetables, production of agricultural machinery, excavators, spare parts for the automotive industry, compressor equipment and construction materials.
The Russian Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Uzbek Ministry of Investment and Foreign Trade created a project office to support and implement industry and trade initiatives. Presently, the office formed a portfolio of 27 new joint projects in the textile and automotive industries, machine-building, energy equipment supply, as well as the development of the production of agricultural machinery in Uzbekistan.
Education
Cooperation in the cultural and humanitarian spheres is one of the priorities, the government said. According to the plan of admission of foreign citizens to Russian universities, Uzbekistan was allocated 405 places for the 2021/2022 academic year. Uzbekistan is a leader in the number of students studying in Russian universities. In the academic year 2020/2021, almost 43 thousand Uzbek citizens studied higher education programs at all forms of training, including foreign branches of Russian universities and joint educational organizations.
There are 12 branches and representative offices of Russian institutions of higher education in Uzbekistan, including Lomonosov Moscow State University, Plekhanov Russian University of Economics, Gubkin Russian State University of Oil and Gas, Moscow State Institute of International Relations, Mendeleev Russian University of Chemical Technology, Russian University of Physical Culture, Sports, Youth and Tourism and others. An agreement has been reached to open branches of Herzen State Pedagogical University of Russia (St. Petersburg) and Pirogov Russian National Research Medical University.
Cooperation is expanding to support the Russian language in Uzbekistan, which is a language of interethnic communication. Legislative acts and other official documents are published in Russian in Uzbekistan, printed media are also published in Russian.
"The demand for the Russian language and mutual interest in its support in Uzbekistan is reflected in joint Russian-Uzbek initiatives," the Cabinet of Ministers said. Among such initiatives, the office named the project "Class!" of the Ministry of Education of Russia, the Ministry of National Education of Uzbekistan and the Charity Foundation "Art, Science and Sports" by Alisher Usmanov to improve the level of Russian language skills and the quality of its teaching in Uzbekistan, as well as the project "Malysh" of the Ministry of Education of Russia and the Ministry of Preschool Education of Uzbekistan to improve the quality of preschool education.
Health
Moscow and Tashkent develop cooperation in the sanitary and epidemiological field. Russia was among the first to assist Uzbekistan in combating the coronavirus pandemic. The partners received test kits and reagents for laboratory diagnostics of coronavirus, and supplies of ventilators and other medical equipment were organized.
Rospotrebnadzor has established cooperation with relevant agencies in Uzbekistan to provide advisory assistance, including online. From August to October 2020 two teams of Russian doctors and Rospotrebnadzor delegation worked in Uzbekistan.
Through the Ministry of Health of Russia, Rospotrebnadzor and the Russian Direct Investment Fund interaction with Uzbek partners is carried out in terms of prevention of the spread, diagnosis and treatment of coronavirus infection. On April 1, 2021, a contract was signed between the RDIF and the Service of Sanitary and Epidemiological Welfare and Public Health of Uzbekistan to supply 500,000 two-component doses of the vaccine Sputnik V to the republic.
On April 23 and 27, 2021, the first 100,000 doses of the vaccine (50,000 doses of each component) were sent to Tashkent. On June 1, 2021, there was a delivery of 70 thousand doses of the first component, and on June 10, 2021 - 70 thousand doses of the second component. The establishment of Sputnik V production at Jurabek Laboratories in Tashkent is under consideration.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: Alexander Astafiev / POOL / TASS
Based on materials from TASS