Alisher Kadirov, Department Head at the Institute for Strategic and Regional Studies under the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan (ISRS), shared this view during the Uzbekistan – Türkiye roundtable discussion on “OTS and the potential of strategic relations between Uzbekistan and Türkiye”.
According to the ISRS expert, in the midst of global geopolitical changes, OTS is emerging as a significant player in the Eurasian region, bringing together Turkic nations in a strong economic and political alliance. He also highlighted the rapidly growing relations between Türkiye and Uzbekistan in this context.
Over the past few years, the partnership between Uzbekistan and Türkiye has reached a new level of comprehensive strategic cooperation. This includes not only expanding economic ties, but also deepening political dialogue, cultural exchange, and security cooperation.
The expert emphasized the impressive progress in bilateral trade, economic, and investment cooperation, stating that in the last five years, the volume of trade between the two countries has increased by 1.3 times, the number of Turkish enterprises in Uzbekistan has tripled to 1898, and FDI from Türkiye has increased by 10 times. Additionally, 260 new joint ventures have been established in the past year, making Türkiye the third largest partner in terms of joint ventures in Uzbekistan.
Therefore, the ISRS representative concluded that Uzbekistan and Türkiye are strongly committed to strengthening their trade ties. Despite the achievements made, both countries have set even more ambitious goals, such as reducing customs tariffs and increasing trade turnover to $5 billion within the framework of the preferential trade agreement, and ultimately aiming for a trade volume of $10 billion in the long term. This would elevate the partnership between the two countries to a new level and become a key factor in the region’s economic development, according to the expert.
The event, organized by the Development Strategy Center and the Turkish Marmara Group Foundation on October 29 in Tashkent, was attended by representatives from the University of World Economy and Diplomacy and Tashkent State University of Oriental Studies, as well as the Turkish Ambassador to Uzbekistan and Turkish parliamentarians.
UzA