The establishment of direct interaction between Uzbek companies and Russian regions
is of particular importance in the light of the possibilities for both creating new production
chains and strengthening those that exist. Without this, the Uzbek and Russian economies
are largely short of social and economic benefits in goods production. Tashkent and
Moscow’s joint efforts in creating joint high-tech industries will expand cooperation for the
production of demanded goods in order to enter into developing world markets.
As Sh.M.Mirziyoyev stated at the meeting with V.Putin in the framework of SCO Qingdao
summit on June 9, 2018, “Uzbekistan makes cooperation with all Russian companies in all
directions on the base of trust and accuracy. And if a year ago only the oil and gas industry
was the point of Uzbek-Russian coordination, today two states make attempts to cooperate
almost in all spheres”. 6
It should be noted that this year Uzbek-
Russian relations has been enhanced by a new
important realm of cooperation – the beginning
of the construction of the Russian nuclear power
plant in our country. Current opportunities to
work with Russia in this area will form a
completely new cluster, the implementation of
which will serve the further development of
industrial potential and job creation in different
branches of Uzbek economy. In fact, this project
marks the formation of a high-tech sector of
Uzbek economy. As noted by the leading research fellow of the Institute of market problems
of Russian Academy of Sciences N.Ziadullaev, the President of Uzbekistan Sh.Mirziyoyev has
set the task to revive the nuclear industry of Uzbekistan. “The Institute of nuclear physics in
Tashkent was a leading one in the Soviet Union. In the coming years Moscow will start to
assist us in the restoration of the Institute”.
Describing the current level of Uzbek-Russian economic cooperation, we should
necessarily emphasize the mutual interest of Tashkent and Moscow in the development of
bilateral trade and economic relations. Thus, for Tashkent, Moscow is an important and the
largest market on the territory of CIS; for Russia, Uzbekistan with a population of more than
32 million people (almost half of the population of Central Asia) is the largest market in the
Central Asian region. From this it becomes obvious that the development of trade and
economic cooperation between the two countries is a mutually beneficial and long-term aim.
Simultaneously, Uzbekistan has taken the comprehensive measures to liberalize the
national economy. “These measures, helping to remove a lot of serious obstacles that
previously prevented Russian partners from fully operating and to predict economic trends
in the Uzbek market, have already contributed to the expansion and deepening of Uzbek-
Russian ties”. 7
Certainly, Uzbekistan is in favor of removing all bureaucratic and other barriers so that
to cooperate with foreign partners, including Russia, and seeks for new ways of coordination
in areas of mutual interest.
From this point of view, a very promising area of mutual cooperation between
Uzbekistan and Russia is the sphere of development of the digital economy since both
countries are almost simultaneously embarking on the implementation of programs for the
introduction of information technologies in important realms of their industry. Thus, in 2018,
Russia approved the government program “Digital economy” and developed three-year
action plans.
From Sh.M. Mirziyoyev's speech at bilateral meeting with V. Putin // 9 of June 2018, China. http://kremlin.ru/events/president/news/57707
From the speech of the Minister of industry and trade of the Russian Federation D. Manturov at the Uzbek-Russian business forum // 3 October
of 2017. Tashkent, http://www.aloqada.com/m/news/2017/10/03/uzbekistan-i-nbsp-rossiya-skooperiruyutsya-v-nbsp-promyshlennosti
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