Japan to help boost digitalization in Uzbekistan to 70%

16th meeting of Uzbek-Japanese and Japanese-Uzbek committees on economic cooperation, which is an effective mechanism for the development of partnership with leading companies in Japan, was held on October 25.

Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Investment and Foreign Trade of the Republic of Uzbekistan Jamshid Khodjaev, heads of key ministries, agencies and associations on the Uzbek side, and Tsuyoshi Nishitani, Advisor of Itochu Corporation, acting chairman of JKC, Hirohide Hirai, Deputy Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry, chairman and senior executive director of Japan External Development Organization took part in the meeting from the Japanese side.

On the agenda were discussed issues of mutual trade. Prospects of expansion of investment-industrial cooperation were considered. Participants of the meeting agreed to step up joint work on the development and implementation of promising projects in pharmaceutical, mining, machine-building, chemical and textile industries, agriculture and other sectors.

Cooperation in the sphere of IT and innovation was discussed separately, with a view to transfer the best Japanese cyber, bio- and nanotechnologies. The Japanese side expressed its intention to assist in plans of bringing the level of digitalization in Uzbekistan up to 70% and ensuring a ten-fold increase in exports of software products by the end of 2026. The event also included a business forum, where participants had an opportunity to hold B2B and B2G meetings and discuss specific practical aspects of joint work.

The meeting concluded with the signing of the Final Protocol and a solid package of bilateral documents reflecting the key agreements reached during the event.