The meeting was held on the sidelines of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council meeting.
Mikhail Mishustin’s conversation with Prime Minister of Uzbekistan Abdulla Aripov
Mikhail Mishustin’s conversation with Prime Minister of Uzbekistan Abdulla Aripov
Mikhail Mishustin’s conversation with Prime Minister of Uzbekistan Abdulla Aripov
Mikhail Mishustin’s conversation with Prime Minister of Uzbekistan Abdulla Aripov
Mikhail Mishustin’s conversation with Prime Minister of Uzbekistan Abdulla Aripov
Excerpt from transcript:
Mikhail Mishustin: Good afternoon, Mr Aripov, welcome to Russia, to Kazan, where a meeting of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council is taking place. We met in Almaty not so long ago, in February 2021. We talk regularly by phone and discuss the most topical issues between our countries. I would like to use this occasion to pass warm-hearted regards to President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev from President of Russia Vladimir Putin and from me personally. Please also accept my warmest congratulations on the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.
You know that we appreciate our friendship and good-neighbourly relations with Uzbekistan and are always interested in bringing our cooperation to a brand new level. We welcome the President of Uzbekistan’s resolution on measures for further development of comprehensive cooperation with Russia.
We continue preparing for the state visit of President Mirziyoyev to Russia. Work on a substantial package of documents is underway, and a busy programme for his stay is in preparation. The creation of an Uzbekistani exhibition and cultural centre at VDNKh in Russia is nearing completion. A meeting of the joint commission with the Russian and Uzbekistani prime ministers, at our level, will be an important stage in the preparations for the state visit.
Russian and Uzbekistani agencies are cooperating closely in countering the coronavirus pandemic. In April, a shipment of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine was delivered to Uzbekistan. We are also preparing to launch production of the vaccine there.
Russia is a leading trading partner of Uzbekistan. Despite the coronavirus restrictions, in 2020 bilateral trade grew by almost 16 percent compared with 2019, reaching nearly six billion dollars. Agricultural trade indicators are impressive. In January – March, trade in this area grew by 14 percent and amounted to $116 million. Our presidents have set an ambitious goal: to increase bilateral trade to $10 billion. We are addressing this, step by step. It is good to see a positive trend despite the pandemic.
Visit
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Restricted-attendance meeting of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council
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Mikhail Mishustin’s conversation with Acting Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan
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Mikhail Mishustin’s conversation with Prime Minister of the Kyrgyz Republic Ulukbek Maripov
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Mikhail Mishustin’s conversation with Prime Minister of the Republic of Tajikistan Kohir Rasulzoda
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Mikhail Mishustin’s conversation with Prime Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan Askar Mamin
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Mikhail Mishustin meets with Prime Minister of the Republic of Belarus Roman Golovchenko
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Mikhail Mishustin’s meeting with President of Tatarstan Rustam Minnikhanov
Over 2,000 enterprises with Russian capital operate on the Uzbek market. The total volume of accumulated Russian investment is about $10 billion. The intergovernmental commission addresses practical issues. From the Russian side, it is headed by our Minister of Economic Development Maxim Reshetnikov. We are successfully implementing the intergovernmental programme for economic cooperation until 2024.
The Russian Export Centre provides full support to projects in agriculture, mechanical engineering, metallurgy and the pharmaceutical industry.
Mr Aripov, we once again welcome you. We would like to discuss both the bilateral agenda and the agenda of the EAEU in detail today. The floor is yours.
Abdulla Aripov: Thanks a lot, Mr Mishustin. I am glad to meet you again, this time in ancient Kazan.
Our countries have reached a qualitatively new stage in the development of bilateral relations, which, without fail, become increasingly intensive year in, year out. Such a favourable trend has been set in motion above all thanks to the confidential relations and full understanding between the Presidents of Uzbekistan and Russia.
I would like to avail myself of this opportunity to convey my most heartfelt greetings to President Vladimir Putin and personally to you on behalf of President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev.
Contacts between the two countries’ delegations at various levels provide for a consistent preparation (just noted by you) for the official visit by the President of Uzbekistan to the Russian Federation. Preparations are also underway for the second session of the Joint Commission on the level of the heads of government of Russia and Uzbekistan.
Russia is a key trade and economic partner of Uzbekistan. Notwithstanding the adverse economic global effects of the pandemic, we keep on working to reach the $10 billion mark in our trade. And I fully agree that despite the pandemic our trade has increased over the last year.
We are implementing a set of major investment projects in petrochemistry, metallurgy, power engineering, construction materials production, agricultural produce processing and other areas. We are vigorously developing interbank cooperation, including with VEB.RF, Gasprombank, Sberbank and other banks.
That said, I would like to underscore, Mr Mishustin, that Uzbek companies and banks have started to use Russian roubles and rouble loans from Russian banks to implement projects in Uzbekistan.
Innoprom, an international industrial exhibition, was successfully held for the first time outside Russia, in Tashkent, on 5–7 April, and we are very grateful and appreciate very much that it was Tashkent that the Russian leadership chose for hosting such an international exhibition. Contracts worth a total of more than $3 billion were signed at the exhibition. It is important to work together to put them into practice.
We welcome the start of Sputnik V vaccine supplies to Uzbekistan. Sputnik V vaccination has begun. The vaccine is in great demand in Uzbekistan. At present, we have a contract for the supply of one million doses but we want to ask you to increase the amount. We are ready to augment the contract and would be glad, if possible, to start producing the vaccine in Uzbekistan, since our pharmaceutical factories and the industry in general are on the rise now.
I am sure that together we will be able to overcome the restrictions related to the pandemic and create conditions for the free and safe movement of our citizens, tourists and business people. In this context we note with satisfaction the resumption of regular flights between the two countries.
The unique joint educational project Class to promote Russian language teaching in Uzbek schools is being successfully carried out. In other countries, it is usually done in schools with tuition in Russian, but in our country we do it in Uzbek-language schools with the help of Russian teachers. To date, 135 such teachers have started working already, by the end of the year their number will reach 200, and in the next few years, up to 1,000 Russian teachers will work in Uzbekistan. We are very thankful to you for this.
We will also fulfil all our obligations on the support of these specialists. It is gratifying that Uzbek and Russian specialists work jointly to review teaching methods, write new textbooks and adopt a new system of advanced professional training for Russian-language teachers.
Currently, 12 branches of leading Russian universities are operating in Uzbekistan. The work continues on opening new joint higher education establishments, as does the collaborative work between more than 100 Russian university departments and Uzbek universities.
Esteemed Mr Mishustin, further promotion of the multifaceted bilateral cooperation meets our mutual and long-term interests. As for us, we are committed to a consistent implementation of all our understandings.
