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Minsk mayor names key avenues of cooperation with Tashkent
Vladimir Kukharev. An archive photo
MINSK, 27 March (BelTA) – Minsk Mayor Vladimir Kukharev has held a working meeting with Ambassador of Uzbekistan to Belarus Rakhmatulla Nazarov to discuss cooperation in various fields, BelTA has learned.
According to Vladimir Kukharev, the two cities have great cooperation prospects in economy, culture, education, healthcare, and sports. These issues were discussed, among other things, during the recent visit of the delegation of the Minsk city administration to the 2nd Forum of Regions of Belarus and Uzbekistan. A Minsk-Tashkent sister-city agreement and an action plan to promote cooperation in trade, economy, science, technology and culture for 2024-2025 were signed.
“The implementation of these agreements will give a new impetus to the sister-city relations,” Vladimir Kukharev remarked. He added that the khokim of Tashkent was invited to visit the Belarusian capital at any convenient time. “We are ready to organize meetings to discuss things that will be of interest to our counterparts,” he said. “We will tell them about our housing and utilities sector, service 115, enterprises producing utility vehicles and passenger transport, medical equipment and medicines.”
Rakhmatulla Nazarov, in turn, emphasized that regional cooperation is one of the effective mechanisms to promote inter-state cooperation. “The increase in our trade is partly attributed to interregional contacts. We will help make sure that interregional relations will develop. We have a lot to learn from each other. Minsk is an example for our cities in many ways. Our economies are not competitive, but complementary. Products made in Belarus are in demand in Uzbekistan. And vice versa. In addition, Uzbekistan can become a gateway to the markets of third countries,” the ambassador noted.
He emphasized that the good relations between the heads of state set the tone for interaction in all areas.
The meeting touched upon industrial cooperation, in particular cooperation in woodworking and furniture production, the supply of baby food, and the creation of a trading house of Uzbekistan in Minsk. Belarus’ capital is interested in importing cotton, fruits, and dried fruits.
The parties emphasized the importance of exchanging visits by representatives of healthcare and education to share best practices and to receive advanced training, as well as arranging tours of artistic groups. Colleges and universities in Belarus’ capital city are ready to train young people from Uzbekistan.
Speaking about cooperation in culture, the Minsk mayor invited artists from Tashkent to visit Minsk during the summer music and tourism season, to showcase national traditions and cuisine. He also invited Uzbek athletes to take part in competitions held in Minsk.
The structure of trade and economic cooperation between Minsk and Uzbekistan remains pretty much the same. The trade is dominated by mutual supplies of raw materials and equipment. The cooperation with Tashkent took off in 2019, when the first agreement on trade, economic, scientific, technical and cultural cooperation between the capital cities was signed. At the same time, a memorandum of understanding was concluded between the Tourism Promotion Department of Tashkent and the Sports and Tourism Directorate of the Minsk City Council. A road map is in the works to facilitate interaction of public utilities services of Minsk and Tashkent.
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