President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev met with President of Russia Vladimir Putin on 8 May as part of his state visit to Moscow.
The meeting focused on strengthening Uzbek-Russian relations as comprehensive strategic partners and allies, including the development of trade and economic cooperation, as reported by the press service of the president of Uzbekistan.
The Kremlin press service published a transcript of the part of the presidents' conversation on trade relations.
Shavkat Mirziyoyev and Vladimir Putin noted the growth of trade turnover and fulfillment of trade agreements.
“Spring, summer is coming soon — we are waiting for fruits and vegetables from Uzbekistan, just like last year. It is good for you and for us. It maintains prices, preventing them from rising,” the Russian president said.
“Very good,” the head of Uzbekistan replied. He shared how the head of Tatarstan, Rustam Minnikhanov, on a recent trip to the southern regions of Uzbekistan, “was surprised when he was shown cabbage, apricot, garlic, fresh onions. When he visited, he was shocked in general. He said, ‘Why do we buy abroad? Here it is cheap and ecologically clean.' Most importantly, the price is normal.”
“We are increasing the volume of purchases from Uzbekistan from year to year,” Vladimir Putin mentioned.
“That would be great,” Shavkat Mirziyoyev noted.
“We will do it,” the Russian president asserted.
In his address at a meeting of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council on the same day, Shavkat Mirziyoyev highlighted the importance of developing the Eurasian Agroexpress, a project of fast delivery of agricultural products from Uzbekistan to Russia, launched in 2021.
“We have an opportunity to saturate the Russian market with agricultural products,” he told Vladimir Putin.
“We will develop this. Our volumes have already grown over the last couple of years. We have a level that we have never had before. We will increase it,” the Russian president replied.
