Uzbek-Chinese Investment Forum: Industrial Cooperation. New features.

On March 25, within the framework of the Tashkent International Investment Forum, a special event "Uzbek-Chinese Investment Forum: Industrial Cooperation" was held in the online format. New opportunities".

The event, which consisted of three sessions – innovations and digital economy, new infrastructures and medicine and the joint construction of a "Healthy Silk Road", was opened by Deputy Prime Minister - Minister of Investment and Foreign Trade of the Republic of Uzbekistan S.U.Umurzakov and Minister of Commerce of the People's Republic of China Wang Wentao. 
The joint forum was also attended by heads of line ministries, departments and chambers of commerce, as well as leading companies of Uzbekistan and China.
In his speech, Deputy Prime Minister of Uzbekistan Sardor Umurzakov, calling China one of the main trade and economic partners of Uzbekistan, proposed to expand industrial cooperation in the chemical, textile, leather and footwear industries, automotive and electrical industries, agriculture and green energy, high technologies and e-commerce.
He said that Uzbekistan will provide all the necessary support for Chinese business to grow, develop and prosper in the country. He invited Chinese entrepreneurs to implement joint mutually beneficial projects in Uzbekistan.
Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao, for his part, emphasizing the 160-fold increase in trade turnover between Uzbekistan and China over the past 30 years, said that Uzbekistan has become an important trade and economic partner of China in Central Asia.
He stressed the readiness of the Chinese side to further stimulate investment cooperation and expand trade with Uzbekistan in order to bring bilateral trade and economic ties to a higher level. 
The forum also featured separate presentations by the heads of major Chinese companies such as ZTE Corporation, China Overseas Engineering Group (China Railway Group), China General Technology Holding, China Sinopharm International Corporation, Xian Qin (Tianjin) Medical Technology and others.
Zhang Yujin, President of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce for the Import and Export of Machine-Building and Electronic Products (CCME), who also spoke at the forum, called on Chinese entrepreneurs, representatives of state and public organizations of China to take advantage of the opportunities available in Uzbekistan. He stressed that the agreements reached during the recent meetings of the Heads of Uzbekistan and China during the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympic Games in Beijing will serve as a solid basis for the comprehensive development of relations between our countries.
The first Uzbek-Chinese Investment Forum gathered more than 500 participants and became a platform for representatives of government agencies and the private sector of the Republic of Uzbekistan and the People's Republic of China to establish and develop a direct dialogue.
It should be noted that such a task was set by the Leaders of the two countries - President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev and President of the People's Republic of China Xi Jinping during a meeting in Beijing on February 5 this year to further intensify industrial, trade, economic and investment cooperation.
At the same time, by the end of 2021, the trade turnover between Uzbekistan and China amounted to more than $ 8 billion and showed steady growth. 
In recent years, Chinese companies have become leading investors in the economy of Uzbekistan: the volume of their investments is almost $ 9 billion. In addition, enterprises with Chinese capital reached 2 thousand or 15% of the total number of foreign companies in the country.