Rustam Minnikhanov meets Governor of Samarkand region Himmat Okbutayev

On March 14, at the Kazan Kremlin, Tatarstan President Rustam Minnikhanov had a meeting with Governor of Samarkand region (Republic of Uzbekistan) Himmat Okbutayev.

During their working visit to Tatarstan members of the delegation of Samarkand region visited the Alabuga Special Economic Zone, where they got acquainted with a number of investment projects and the infrastructure of the zone located in Yelabuga municipal region, looked around the innovative IT city of Innopolis, and visited the production sites of KAMAZ Automaker in the town of Naberezhnye Chelny.

Welcoming the guests, Minnikhanov expressed his confidence that the current visit of Uzbek colleagues will contribute to the further development of cooperation between Tatarstan and Uzbekistan as part of Russia-Uzbekistan relations.

He said that Tatarstan and Uzbekistan have been cooperating on the basis of the intergovernmental Agreement on trade, economic, scientific, technical and cultural cooperation signed in 1993.

Minnikhanov also reminded that last year the trade turnover between the two republics amounted to more than 50 million US dollars, but there are opportunities to increase volumes and enhance cooperation in many areas. "The level of our cooperation does not correspond to the available opportunities, primarily in the field of economy," he said.

Tatarstan President briefed about the economic situation in the republic, noting the most serious projects being implemented in the industrial sector, in the field of information technologies and innovations.

He stressed that Tatarstan is developing cooperation with Uzbekistan in the field of culture and education. According to Minnikhanov, there are good opportunities for expanding ties in the sphere of sports and tourism.

In his turn, Himmat Okbutayev thanked his colleagues from Tatarstan for a warm welcome and an eventful programme of the visit. He noted that this visit to Tatarstan took place prior to a planned visit of Uzbekistan President Shavkat Mirziyoyev to Russia and expressed his hope that the visit will give a new impetus and dynamics to the relations between the countries.

Okbutayev invited specialists from Tatarstan and Rustam Minnikhanov to visit Uzbekistan.