OREANDA-NEWS. October 22, 2012. In Warsaw, the Polish-Uzbek intergovernmental commission on economic cooperation held the fifth meeting. A special importance to the meeting of the Commission was given by two anniversaries –the 20th anniversary of establishment of diplomatic relations between Uzbekistan and Poland and the 20th anniversary of signing the Agreement between the Government of the Republic of Uzbekistan and the Government of the Republic of Poland on economic cooperation and trade, which has formed the basis for the development of equitable economic and trade ties between the two countries.

These and other issues of bilateral cooperation were discussed at the Tashkent press-conference.

Today, growth of trade turnover between Uzbekistan and Poland shows progressive trends in the development of cooperation between the two countries. Thus, according to Polish statistics in 2011, it amounted to USD 158.6 million, in 7 months of this year, trade turnover between the republics exceeded USD 83.8 million.

As it was noted at the press-conference by First Counsellor of the Embassy of the Republic of Poland in the Republic of Uzbekistan Slawomir Strzalkowski, during the meeting both sides stressed the growing interest in strengthening and developing trade and economic ties. Evidence for this is events and visits of delegations of the two countries both at the level of ministries and departments and business organizations.

The parties stressed the need to further activate direct dialogue between Uzbek and Polish businessmen. To this end, the Commission supported the initiative to establish cooperation between the Commercial and Industrial Chamber of Uzbekistan and the Polish Agency for Enterprise Development.

Important place in the work of the Commission was given to projects related to environmental protection. In particular, to consider the project some proposals were presented by the State Committee of the Republic of Uzbekistan for Nature Protection in the use of renewable energy sources and monitoring high toxic persistent organic pollutants. Their implementation is of great interest to Poland companies.

In addition, during the meeting of the Commission participants discussed cooperation in areas such as agriculture, road transport and tourism.

- In 2012, at the invitation of Uzbek party Tashkent was visited by a group of Polish tour operators. Visit to Samarkand, Bukhara and other cities was organized for them. In addition, this year more than 100 people from Poland, including 60 business representatives came to Uzbekistan on a study trip purpose. I think that establishment of contacts in this field will continue, - added Slawomir Strzalkowski.

During the meeting, representatives of the Directorate-General of building control of Poland and the State Committee for Architecture and Construction of the Republic of Uzbekistan discussed the prospects of cooperation among the relevant agencies.

As part of the meeting of the Commission the Polish-Uzbek business forum was held, which brought together representatives of more than 60 Poland companies.