As part of the business program of President Emmanuel Macron’s official visit to Uzbekistan, a joint Business Forum was held in Samarkand. The heads of state attended the event.

The President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev met with leading representatives of the French business community during his official visit to this country in November 2022. It resulted in specific agreements on expanding trade-economic and investment partnership. The current forum is a continuation of this open and constructive dialogue.

The French side at the event was represented by the Minister Delegate for Foreign Trade, Economic Attractiveness and French Nationals Abroad Olivier Becht, the Minister Delegate for Industry, under the Minister for Economy, Finance, and Industrial and Digital Sovereignty Roland Lescure, the Director General of the MEDEF International Claude Imauven, CEO of the French Development Agency Rémy Rioux.

In addition, the event was attended by heads of large companies and banks - EDF, Voltalia, Total Energies, Orano, Eiffage, Veolia, SUEZ, Lactalis, Semai, Semmaris, Alstom, Airbus Helicopters, ATR, Vicat, Mobilitas, Boehringer Ingelheim, Thales, Aramine, Meridiame, Societe Generale, Natixis and others.
Opening the meeting in ancient Samarkand, the Head of our state warmly greeted President Emmanuel Macron and representatives of the French business elite.

As a result of active high-level dialogues, positive dynamics can be seen in the development of trade, economic, and investment cooperation between the two countries. 

Since the beginning of the year, the volume of mutual trade has tripled, and in recent years the number of joint ventures has quadrupled.
It was emphasized that further strengthening of direct trade ties and industrial cooperation fully meets the long-term interests of both countries.
“Today, we had very fruitful talks with my respected colleague. I would like to emphasize that a new era of our cooperation is beginning. In the future, we intend to raise our relations to the level of strategic partnership”, the President of Uzbekistan said.

In his speech, the Head of state noted that the two countries’ leaders agreed to provide full support for a significant increase in the volume of mutual trade and intensify the investment activities of French companies.

This will be facilitated by the introduction of new mechanisms for financing joint projects, the creation of more favorable conditions for business, and full support for the implementation of business initiatives.

Cooperation has already achieved significant progress in the energy, mining, water supply, transport, agriculture, banking and financial sectors.

The willingness to create new effective platforms to expand productive and open dialogue with the French business community has been expressed.
In this context, the Leader of Uzbekistan welcomed the agreements as part of the forum on creating a joint Uzbekistan–France Chamber of Commerce. In addition, plans to open an office of the Business France Agency in Tashkent received support.

The French government, leading companies, and financial institutions expressed their interest in continuing to actively support the reform programs in Uzbekistan.

“I can say for sure that our reforms have become irreversible. Our priority goal is to build a democratic state with strong civil society institutions, modern infrastructure, and powerful industry”, the Head of state noted.

President Shavkat Mirziyoyev pointed out the four priority areas and several initiatives to expand the Uzbekistan-France partnership.
The parties expressed readiness to develop strategic cooperation in an important area of green energy. In this regard, the implementation of large projects has already begun with the companies "EDF", "Voltalia" and "Total Energies".

Another important area of cooperation is the deep processing of strategic raw materials and the production of industrial products based on advanced technologies. It was noted that there are plans to expand the partnership with Orano in this field.

The efficient use of water resources and the creation of modern infrastructure are identified as an important priority. It was indicated that together with the companies SUEZ, Eiffage, and Veolia a lot of work is being carried out to modernize the country’s water supply systems and heating networks.

Another vital area that receives excellent attention is increasing competitiveness in agriculture and ensuring food security.

In this regard, active cooperation with France on the construction of modern agro-logistics complexes in the regions of our country was supported.

The President of Uzbekistan emphasized the importance of the Business Forum as a platform for intensive and constructive dialogue between the two countries’ businesspeople and for identifying new growth points.

“I want to emphasize that we always welcome our French partners to work in new Uzbekistan, we are always ready to implement any useful joint projects you have”, the Head of our state said at the end of his speech.

The President of France Emmanuel Macron also addressed the Business Forum participants with a welcoming speech. He expressed full support for the reforms proposed by President Shavkat Mirziyoyev and noted the great opportunities for bilateral investment cooperation. He called for more active use of the solid potential of mutually beneficial partnership, expressing confidence that the economies and people of both countries will benefit from this.

Following the business forum, a substantial package of documents was signed on agreements in energy, metallurgy, water supply, agriculture, transport, and other vital areas.