Uzbekistan-Germany: course to a new level of mutually beneficial cooperation

In recent years, bilateral uzbek-german cooperation has gained new dynamics. This is evidenced by the intensive political dialog between the two heads of state.

The first official visit of President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev to Germany, which took place on January 20-22, 2019, as well as the return visit of Federal President of Germany Frank-Walter Steinmeier to Uzbekistan on May 27-29 of the same year gave a powerful impetus to the development of bilateral partnership.

The agreements reached during these summits, as well as interaction within global and regional structures were discussed during the online summit between President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev and German Chancellor Angela Merkel on March 12, 2021.

On May 2-3 this year, the President of Uzbekistan paid another visit to Germany, during which he held talks with German Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Chancellor Olaf Scholz and heads of leading German companies.

Today, cooperation between our two countries is multifaceted, covering trade and economic, investment, technological, cultural, humanitarian and other spheres.

Along with that, Uzbekistan and Germany are effectively cooperating in multilateral formats - within the UN, OSCE and other structures on issues of global and regional agenda. The positions of Tashkent and Berlin on many issues, including the fight against terrorism, organized crime, drug trafficking, as well as the settlement of the situation in Afghanistan, coincide or are close.

Inter-parliamentary ties have been intensified, with an exchange of visits by parliamentary delegations at various levels and intensified contacts through friendship groups and specialized committees of the Uzbek and German parliaments.

The foreign ministries of the two countries hold regular political consultations on topical issues of bilateral cooperation and multilateral agenda. On February 14 this year, Tashkent hosted the 18th round of inter-ministerial political consultations.

On October 31-November 2, 2022, Foreign Minister Annalena Berbock had visited Uzbekistan, which was received by President Shavkat Mirziyoyev. She held meetings in the ministries and agencies of the republic and visited the city of Samarkand.

Being one of the world's leading powers and occupying leading positions in various sectors and spheres of the global economy, Germany is a promising and reliable trade and economic partner of Uzbekistan in Europe.

Uzbekistan's comprehensive modernization has contributed to the growing interest of German business circles in expanding interaction in economic and investment spheres. Today, more than 200 enterprises with the participation of German investments are functioning in our country. Such world-known industrial and technological giants as Deutsche Kabel», «Knauf», «Claas», «Papenburg» and «Falk Porsche» operate in the Uzbek market. We cooperate with «Siemens», «Thissen

Group», «Roland Berger», «Adidas Group» and other companies that are at the forefront of their fields. Financial cooperation with leading German banks «DeutscheBank», «Commerzbank» and «Landesbank».

The volume of mutual trade between our countries has increased more than 1.5 times over the past five years - from 771.9 million dollars in 2018 to 1 billion 150 million dollars in 2022. And this upward trend continues, with the two sides exchanging nearly $610 million in trade between January and July of this year.

Established in 2015, the German-Uzbek Business Council (GUBC) brings together the largest companies of the two countries. The Council is unique in its kind, as it is the only G2B platform in Uzbekistan. Over the years of its existence, GUBC has become an important platform for direct and open dialog between the German business community and the Government of Uzbekistan.

The Intergovernmental Working Group on Trade and Investment also fully contributes to the expansion of trade, economic and investment cooperation.

Trade contracts and investment and technological agreements worth more than 9 billion euros were concluded as a result of business events held during the May visit of our head of state to Germany.

In September this year, a delegation of German business circles, including members of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, as well as heads and representatives of "Falk Porsche Technik GmbH", "Kabel AG" (DKG), "Schneider Group", "DB Engineering&Consulting GmbH", "GP GünterPapenburg AG" and other major companies visited Uzbekistan, where they held productive negotiations in ministries and departments, familiarized themselves with the activities of domestic enterprises and entrepreneurs of our country. This visit of the German business mission has once again confirmed the high mutual interest of the two states in expanding and deepening trade, economic and investment cooperation.

Against the backdrop of intensifying bilateral relations, Germany is growing interest in Uzbekistan's rich historical and cultural heritage and tourism potential.

Thus, within the framework of President Shavkat Mirziyoyev's visit to Germany in May this year, together with his German counterpart, the head of our state took part in the opening of the exhibition "Archaeological Treasures of Uzbekistan. From Alexander the Great to the Kushan Empire" at the James Simon Gallery in Berlin. The exhibition will run until January 14, 2024, and during the exhibition period various cultural events will be held to familiarize the German public and guests of the country with the rich history, unique culture and traditions of the Uzbek people. The exhibition includes 285 museum items from the collections of 9 museums of Uzbekistan.

In turn, Uzbekistan is also witnessing a growing interest in Germany, its culture, language, educational and business opportunities.

Today, about 300,000 school students in Uzbekistan study the language of Goethe, Schiller and Kant. In 24 schools German is studied in depth, in 6 of them - in the cities of Tashkent, Samarkand, Margilan, Fergana, Andijan and Bukhara - with the right to issue a German language diploma. More than 4 thousand Uzbek postgraduate and doctoral students are studying in various higher education institutions of Germany.The Goethe Institute, the Institute for International Cooperation of the German Association of Public Universities and the Central Office of Schools Abroad are successfully operating in Uzbekistan today. In addition to them, the offices of the Adenauer and Ebert foundations are also active, assisting in the implementation of projects in the social and economic spheres.

As part of the development of interregional cooperation, partnerships have been established between the cities of Tashkent and Berlin, Bukhara and Bonn. Fruitful cultural and educational exchanges and sustainable development projects are being jointly implemented.

It should be noted that Germany makes a significant contribution to the support of the Trust Fund for the Aral Sea region. Thus, in March of this year, an agreement was signed to support the activities of the Fund, providing for the German government to allocate 700 thousand dollars for targeted support to reduce the negative impact of the severe environmental situation on the residents of the Aral Sea region. The German contribution will multiply the efforts of national and local partners, a number of UN organizations, NGOs, CSOs and academia. Thanks to joint programs and financial support in the Aral Sea region, there is an opportunity to address food, economic, social, environmental and health problems.

And finally, about 5 thousand ethnic Germans live in Uzbekistan today, who carefully preserve their national traditions and culture and maintain close ties with Germany. In our country, citizens of German nationality are regarded not only as an integral part of Uzbek society, but also as a connecting bridge between the two countries.

In short, to date Uzbekistan and Germany have built a solid foundation for further successful development of strategic partnership based on the principles of mutual respect and interests of each other. Undoubtedly, the upcoming first summit of Central Asian and German leaders in Berlin will give fresh impetus and open up new prospects for deepening and expanding cooperation, strengthening traditionally mutually beneficial and friendly Uzbek-German relations for the benefit of the peoples of the two countries.