Türkiye's vice president expresses confidence in reaching $5B trade volume with Uzbekistan

By Burc Eruygur

ISTANBUL (AA) - Turkish Vice President Cevdet Yilmaz on Wednesday expressed confidence in reaching a bilateral trade volume of $5 billion with Uzbekistan.

"Our bilateral trade with Uzbekistan ... exceeded $3.1 billion by the end of 2023. We have full confidence that we will reach our $5 billion trade volume target set by our presidents soon," Yilmaz said on X after a meeting with Uzbek Economy Minister Jamshid Kuchkarov in capital city of Tashkent.

Yilmaz said he and Kuchkarov evaluated Turkish-Uzbek relations at the political, economic and cultural level, adding that they also assessed mutual investments in areas such as agriculture, construction, energy, water management, transportation and banking.

Underlining that Türkiye attaches great importance to Tashkent's role in the Organization of Turkic States, Yilmaz said they are observing Uzbekistan's "significant transformation" through ongoing reforms.

"We believe the cooperation based on the deep-rooted ties between our countries will give us even more strength," he added.

He thanked Kuchkarov and his delegation for their hospitality and expressed hope that bilateral cooperation will continue to increase.