02.03.2017 Ankara
TOBB President M. Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu, speaking at the Turkey-Uzbekistan Round Table Meeting attended by Uzbek Deputy Prime Minister Azimov, gave a message of determination to increase trade between the two countries. Hisarcıklıoğlu said that they regard Turkey and Uzbekistan as key countries in terms of peace and prosperity of a common geography and that increasing economic relations is very important for the whole region.
Turkey-Uzbekistan
Round Table Meeting was held at TOBB Twin Towers hosted by TOBB President M.
Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu with the participation of Uzbek Prime Minister Rustam
Azimov and his delegation.
Speaking at the
opening of the meeting, Hisarcıklıoğlu stated that they wanted to open new avenues
for cooperation between Turkey and Uzbekistan, “We are at an ideal time to move
the relations we have established forward and, especially recently, a strong
political will to this end.”
Hisarcıklıoğlu
emphasized that the two fields they are focusing on in this process are increasing
trade and investment between Uzbekistan and Turkey.
Hisarcıklıoğlu
pointed out that the trade volume of the last 10 years between the two
countries has increased by more than 3 times and reached 1.2 billion dollars.
However, Hisarcıklıoğlu stated that this figure is far below its potential; it
is necessary to increase trade volume and bring companies together for more
business cooperation.
Stating that they are
closely following Uzbekistan's projects, Hisarcıklıoğlu noted that they wanted
to invest more in this context.
Hisarcıklıoğlu reported
that free-economic zones have been established in Uzbekistan and that Turkish
companies were promised favorable environment for taxation, customs and other
privileges and in these regions. “We would like to thank you for that; we have
very important opportunities there.”
- “We want to produce intermediate goods for the main
industries of Uzbekistan”
Indicating that
industrial investments are an important area in this context, Hisarcıklıoğlu
also stated that they want to produce intermediate goods for the main industries
of Uzbekistan.
Hisarcıklıoğlu
emphasized that the integration of Uzbek automotive industry with the
investments of Turkey's strong automotive subsidiary in Uzbekistan will be a
very important business alliance for cooperating in third countries.
“We have a lot of
opportunities in the construction of new and modern textile and leather processing
plants, shoe factories, pharmaceutical industry and the energy sector. We want
to bring our companies to Uzbekistan for all of these. Agriculture is another
important area. Uzbekistan presents opportunity for investments in 6 areas and
projects aimed at fruit and vegetable packaging, reprocessing and export. We
think this is the best time for the strong and experienced Turkish food sector to
come to Uzbekistan. We have great opportunities in tourism and we want to
contribute to this area as well.
- Deputy Prime Minister of Uzbekistan Rustam Azimov
Rustam Azimov, Deputy
Prime Minister of Uzbekistan, said in his speech, “We invite companies in
Turkey to Uzbekistan; we have conducted serious research and have decided to
make a business alliance in areas where Turkey is strong.”
He explained that
Uzbekistan's economy has developed very steadily with many large international
companies investing in various fields in the country.
Azimov expressed that
there are important investment opportunities in the country such as gas and
petrochemical industry, agriculture, tourism, medicine, transportation,
textile, etc. and went on:
“At this point, our
biggest problem is that we sell our resources as raw materials. Instead of
selling cotton, our most important export items, raw material, if we turn it
into yarn, cloth or ready-made garments, the price will increase even more.
However, we only process 35% of cotton produced in our country. We have a lot
of potential in this area. Turkey is strong in the field of textiles; it is
possible to cooperate in this regard. We have very important resources, sectors
such as petrochemical sector, valuable metals, agricultural products, textile
and leathers. We invite companies in Turkey to Uzbekistan. We have conducted serious
research and have decided to make a business alliance in areas where Turkey is
strong.”