Vladimir Putin in Uzbekistan: 45 Billion Dollars’ Worth of Joint Projects Announced

Russia is ready to increase natural gas exports via Kazakhstan

Vladimir Putin e Shavkat Mirziyoyev

The pace of development of economic relations between Russia and Uzbekistan is “impressive.” Russian President Vladimir Putin said this during talks in Tashkent with his Uzbek counterpart Shavkat Mirziyoyev. The Russian president emphasized that thanks to the efforts of the Uzbek government, trade and economic relations between the two countries “are diversifying and have good prospects, especially in the sphere of industrial cooperation and high technologies.”

After the Russian-Uzbek summit, Moscow and Tashkent announced in a press release that the portfolio of joint projects amounts to 45 billion dollars. “The sides highly appreciated the growing dynamics of trade and economic cooperation. The volumes of Russian trade and investments in Uzbekistan are growing, industrial cooperation is developing,” the document says.

Among the strategic projects that Putin and Mirziyoyev discussed are a railroad and a gas pipeline that will connect Russia with India, passing through the territories of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. Issues related to food security and migration were also discussed. “In a limited format, we discussed a number of important areas, including food security, projects in innovation, digital technology, and artificial intelligence,” Mirziyoyev said.

A separate topic was cooperation between Moscow and Tashkent in the energy sector. “We agreed to modernize the gas transportation system, increase supplies of oil and oil products, jointly with major Russian companies to implement a number of hydrocarbon processing projects,” the Uzbek president said, recalling that the talks were held on the sidelines of the summit. An agreement has been signed on the construction of a number of mini-NPPs by the Russian state company Rosatom in Uzbekistan.

For his part, Putin said Russia is ready to increase natural gas exports to Uzbekistan via Kazakhstan. “Uzbekistan is a strategic partner and a reliable ally of Russia, and relations between the two countries are developing with mutual interests in mind,” the Russian president emphasized. “Our close and friendly relations are growing, dynamically developing on the principles of equality, mutual respect, and consideration of mutual interests,” Putin said again, according to whom “today’s talks will allow us to hold a detailed discussion on the entire agenda of bilateral negotiations on relations between Russia and Uzbekistan.” The talks resulted in the signing of a package of intergovernmental agreements covering cooperation in trade, industry, peaceful use of atomic energy, culture, science, and public education.