OREANDA-NEWS. November 13, 2012. Tashkent hosted 19-th session of the Uzbek-British Council on trade and industry. During the session participants provided presentation of the investment climate of our country and promising areas of cooperation with British companies, including in the framework of FIEZ "Navoi" and SIZ "Angren".

Today Uzbekistan is among the world leaders on key macroeconomic indicators. The growth rate of the country's GDP for the last 5 years exceeded 8%. A number of international organizations estimate that the economy of Uzbekistan will continue to demonstrate such high growth rates in the coming years. Experts observe active development of industrial production, including sectors such as machinery, automobiles, pharmaceuticals, chemical, petrochemical, food industry, which have become in recent years an important component of the domestic economy. During the years of independence economy of Uzbekistan has attracted more than USD 120 billion of investments, of which more than USD 40 billion - foreign direct investments.

Republic of Uzbekistan and the United Kingdom actively develop trade-economic and investment cooperation. By the end of 2011 the volume of bilateral trade amounted to USD 177.5 million, and in January-August of the current year - USD 116.1 million.

Cooperation between the two states is based on the provisions of such agreements as "On avoidance of double taxation and prevention of evasion of taxes on income and capital gains", "On cooperation in the spheres of education, science and culture", "On economic cooperation", "On encouragement and mutual protection of investments", "On air communication", "On cooperation in the field of tourism".

- I want to mark positive dynamic of the development of trade-economy and investment cooperation between Uzbekistan and Great Britain. Just in the recent years in cooperation with the leading companies of the United Kingdom we started implementation of a wide range of investment projects, and now we develop new. Today the Great Britain is a leader among countries of European Union on the number of enterprisers established in Uzbekistan which amount to 450. As for the trade, last year the Great Britain took 5th place among foreign-trade EU partners of Uzbekistan. In its turn, Uzbekistan highly appreciates expanding relations with the Great Britain and interested in the development of effective and mutually beneficial partnership. Today in Uzbekistan the leadership implements deep structural reforms aimed at creation of modern high technological diversified export-oriented economy. In Uzbekistan the Great Britain is known as one of the world leaders in sphere of technologies, innovations, and as a country where was a great industrial revolution that laid the foundation for further industrialization of the world economy. In this regard, we believe that investment cooperation in the sphere of production, aimed at co-production of products with high added value with use of modern technology will enable the UK to provide production of goods demanded in foreign markets and will become a major engine of economic cooperation between our countries, - Elyor Ganiev said.

According to Peter Lilley, the co-Chairman of the Uzbek-British Council on trade and industry, Uzbekistan, clearly demonstrating the dynamic pace of economic growth, makes a kind of a new industrial revolution.

- We pay great attention to the presence of British business in Uzbekistan. It is very important, the companies which already work here, to continue to increase their investments and expand contacts. Results of trade between our countries, expressed in figures, show an increase by 19%. We welcome the strategy of Uzbekistan to create a modern economy with use of technology for production of goods with high added value, and we believe that British companies can contribute to this process. It should be noted that British representatives have visited a number of exhibitions, and got acquainted with achievements of the Uzbek economy, the level of which is very impressive. Economic prospective demonstrated is one more indication and a cause for the presence and functioning of British companies in Uzbekistan - Peter Lilley said.

During the meeting participants discussed possibilities for attraction of direct British investments and technologies in energetic, electro technical, chemical, food and pharmaceutical industries, as well as in the sphere of tourism, agriculture and information technologies. They discussed prospective of implementation of projects within the framework of Mechanism of clear development and in the sphere of energy-saving technologies.

Certainly, the session and bilateral meetings with British partners will give a new impetus to bilateral business relations and will contribute to discussion of new project ideas and proposals.