Uzbekistan, Malaysia eye intensifying trade relations

18 April 2019 12:49 (UTC+04:00)

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By Abdul Kerimkhanov

Ravshan Usmanov, the Uzbek Ambassador in Kuala Lumpur, has held talks with Teresa Kok, the Minister of Primary Industries of Malaysia.

The parties discussed issues of further development of mutually beneficial trade, economic and investment cooperation.

The Malaysian side was informed about large-scale economic reforms in Uzbekistan, including the liberalization of monetary policy, free economic zones, favorable conditions for doing business, as well as modern agro-industrial and cotton-textile clusters being created in Uzbekistan.

Speaking about the significant potential of the two countries, Kok spoke in favor of intensifying trade relations and investment cooperation in various industries.

She stressed that the rich resource potential and stable economic development of Uzbekistan, as well as the country's ongoing policy of modernizing and diversifying the industrial sector, open up new opportunities for Malaysian companies to conduct profitable business and investment cooperation.

Kok emphasized that the government of Malaysia is carefully studying the successful cooperation of Uzbekistan with the International Labor Organization (ILO).

The Malaysian side also stated that the possibility of identifying Uzbekistan as a hub for deep processing and packaging of palm oil for the further export of finished products to Central Asian countries and other CIS countries is currently being studied.

This proposal was developed following the results of the visit of the leadership of the Council of Palm Oil Producers of Malaysia to Uzbekistan from March 31 to April 4, 2019.

Production of palm oil is a source of income for many countries in Southeast Asia, especially Malaysia and Indonesia. These countries account for 85 percent of the global palm oil supply.

Diplomatic relations between Uzbekistan and Malaysia were established on February 21, 1992.

Exports from Uzbekistan to Malaysia increased by 2.7 times in January-September 2018, compared with the same period of the previous year. Currently, some 16 enterprises with Malaysian capital are registered in Uzbekistan.

Malaysia is one of the reliable partners of Uzbekistan in Southeast Asia. During the years of independence, people of the two countries have achieved great success in mastering new industries, the most complex technologies in organizing and expanding finished products. An example of this is the automotive, textile and consumer electronics industries.

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Abdul Kerimkhanov is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @AbdulKerim94