Uzbekistan and Bangladesh step up industrial cooperation

A meeting was held at the Ministry of Investment and Foreign Trade of the Republic of Uzbekistan with the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh to the Republic of Uzbekistan Mukhammad Zakhangir Alam.

The parties discussed in detail the current agenda of bilateral cooperation between investment and trade and economic spheres. In particular, special attention was paid to measures to further deepen cooperation through the implementation of specific joint initiatives and projects.

Mukhammad Zakhangir Alam noted the solid interest of Bangladeshi companies in the Uzbek market. “There are ample opportunities and favorable conditions for doing business here,” the diplomat assessed. In this regard, an agreement was reached at the meeting to intensify industrial cooperation. At this stage, we are talking about the development of projects and the creation of joint ventures in the agricultural, food, textile, leather and footwear and pharmaceutical industries, including for the export of finished products to third-country markets.

A number of other issues of mutual interest were also discussed. So, for example, the importance of restoring direct flights on the Tashkent-Dhaka-Tashkent route was noted, which, among other things, will allow Tashkent to be positioned as a hub for transit flights from Bangladesh.

Further deepening of cooperation in the field of tourism will be facilitated by the visits of journalists from well-known Bangladesh TV channels, such as “BTV World”, “Banglavision”, “Jamuna Television” and “NTV Bangladesh” to Uzbekistan in order to prepare media content for advertising and promo videos.

Also, in order to increase the tourist flow to Uzbekistan, it is planned to consider the possibility of concluding a code-share agreement (flight sharing agreement) between the national air carriers of the two countries and introducing an electronic visa system for citizens of Bangladesh, which will greatly simplify their entry into the country.

Following the talks, the parties agreed to begin preparations for the 3rd meeting of the Uzbek-Bangladesh intergovernmental commission on trade and economic cooperation.