On July 15, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev listened to reports on the implementation of agreements reached during his visit to Belarus to expand cooperation between regions of both countries.
During Mirziyoyev’s official visit to Belarus on July 8-9, agreements were reached to increase mutual trade to $2 billion, as well as to implement 310 joint projects worth a total of $2 billion in mechanical engineering, agriculture, pharmaceuticals, the textile industry, wood processing, and healthcare.
Mirziyoyev emphasized the importance of putting the agreements into practice within a short timeframe.
In particular, the need was noted to compile lists of citizens and entrepreneurs wishing to work or do business in Belarus and to send them to the country in an organized manner, after coordinating and resolving with the Belarusian side issues related to jobs, living conditions, and the allocation of premises and land plots required for projects.
A roadmap has been approved between Uzbekistan’s Andijan and Belarus’s Vitebsk regions, and the implementation of specific initiatives has already begun. In particular, 255 residents of Andijan region were sent and employed in Vitebsk region.
Overall, a package of 30 new projects worth more than $100 million has been formed in Vitebsk and other regions of Belarus across livestock farming, wood processing, logistics, trade, and services. Plans include the establishment of a large dairy complex designed for 3,000 head of cattle, several medium-sized livestock farms, and an enterprise for deep wood processing and the production of pellets from wood waste.
Mirziyoyev instructed that the cooperation model established between Andijan and Vitebsk regions be extended to other regions.
In particular, Bukhara, Kashkadarya, Navoi, Namangan, Tashkent, Fergana, Samarkand and Surkhandarya regions of Uzbekistan will be assigned to cooperate with Vitebsk, Mogilev, Grodno, Gomel and Brest regions of Belarus. Separate roadmaps will be approved for creating new production facilities based on industrial and agricultural sites, implementing entrepreneurial projects and ensuring employment.
Issues related to the creation of modern logistics infrastructure were also considered to boost mutual trade and reduce cargo transportation costs.
By the end of the year, it is planned, in cooperation with Belarusian Railways, to commission an intermodal logistics center at Orsha station in Vitebsk region, which will handle export and import cargo under preferential tariff conditions.
Particular attention was paid to issues related to the organized employment of Uzbek citizens in Belarus. At the first stage, it is planned to employ 1,100 citizens of Uzbekistan on a competitive basis at 13 enterprises in Vitebsk and other regions of Belarus.
Starting in September, it is planned to provide permanent jobs in Vitebsk region for 500 residents of Andijan region each month, for a total of 5,000. To this end, a representative office of the Uzbek Migration Agency will be opened in the city of Vitebsk.
