President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev during press briefing following the talks with President of Turkmenistan Serdar Berdimuhamedov in Tashkent on Thursday said there are all the opportunities to bring the volume of bilateral trade to more than $1 billion by the end of this year.
He added that in the medium term it can be doubled, because there are all the grounds for that, the official Turkmen media reports.
The decisions to create joint border trade zone and open trading houses in the capitals of the two countries would facilitate this, Mirziyoyev stated.
On the basis of the adopted medium-term program, cooperation will also be developed in the automotive, electrical, textile, pharmaceutical industries, the food industry, and agriculture, he added.
In addition, a joint project office will be created to promote the most promising projects.
In turn, President Serdar Berdimuhamedov stated that the sides discussed in detail the issues of bilateral trade-economic partnership and expressed the mutual desire for its expansion and diversification. Energy, transport and communications, agro-industrial complex, chemical and textile industry were highlighted among the among the priority areas of cooperation, he added.
As a result of the talks, Serdar Berdimuhamedov and Shavkat Mirziyoyev signed a Joint Statement on further deepening and strengthening of comprehensive cooperation and strategic partnership between the two countries.
Trade turnover between Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan in the first five months of this year amounted to $322.6 million, an increase of 1.2% compared to the same period of last year.
