Chinese Minister of Commerce Gao Hucheng met with Minister of Foreign Economic Relations, Investments and Trade of Uzbekistan Elyor Ganiev who was invited to participate in the Fourth Sub-Committee Meeting of the Economic and Trade Cooperation of China-Uzbekistan Inter-governmental Cooperation Committee in Beijing on April 8. This is the first delegation of the government of Uzbekistan visiting China after the presidential election of Uzbekistan.
Gao said that under the promotion of the two heads of both states in person, China-Uzbekistan strategic partnership is constantly consolidated and deepened. The two countries firmly support each other on issues concerning core interests and major concerns and maintain close cooperation in such fields as politics, economy, humanity, anti-terrorist and safety. In recent years, the bilateral trade and economic relations have enjoyed a rapid development and China has become the second biggest trade partner and the largest investor of Uzbekistan. In September 2013, President Xi Jinping proposed the initiative of jointly building “Silk Road Economic Belt”, which has won warm response from relevant countries including Uzbekistan. China is willing to work with Uzbekistan to jointly promote the cooperation of “Silk Road Economic Belt” and inject new power for the bilateral trade and economic cooperation under the framework of the Economic and Trade Cooperation Sub-committee of China-Uzbekistan Inter-governmental Cooperation Committee.
Ganiev said that Uzbekistan and China maintain close coordination in the international and regional affairs as strategic partners and make important contributions to promoting the stability and development of the two countries and local area. The heads of two countries met with each other twice in 2014 and President Xi Jinping sent a timely message of congratulations upon the reelection of President Islam Abduganiyevich Karimov, which fully showed that the two countries are true strategic partners. In recent years, the bilateral trade and economic relations have enjoyed smooth development. China has become a significant trade partner of Uzbekistan and the trade volume between the two countries reached US$4.7 billion in 2014, close to the goal of US$5 billion proposed by the leaders of the two countries. Uzbekistan will carefully study the document of Vision and Proposed Actions Outlined on the “Belt and Road Initiative” published by China, strengthen the communication and cooperation with China under the framework of the “Silk Road Economic Belt”, deeply explore the potential for cooperation and jointly improve the quality and level of Uzbekistan-China trade and economic relations.
During the meeting, both sides exchanged views issues such as expanding the trade of bulk commodities like cotton and natural gas, deepening the bilateral economic and technical cooperation and strengthening the cooperation within the framework of SCO.
