Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan preparing projects worth $800 mln - Mirziyoyev

BAKU. March 2 (Interfax) - Baku and Tashkent are preparing to implement projects worth $800 million, Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev said.

"You [Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev] have mentioned new projects. It appears to be just a meeting, but we have been preparing for it very seriously - projects worth $800 million. It means that we have large, enormous potential," Mirziyoyev said at a meeting with Aliyev in Baku on Wednesday. Mirziyoyev's remarks are available on the Azerbaijani president's website.

Azerbaijan's state oil company SOCAR is preparing "a large project in the oil and gas sector" and is conducting a feasibility study for it, the Uzbek leader said.

"A serious result" is highly likely to be achieved "in the field of automobile manufacturing", Mirziyoyev said. "These are our new brands, our cars, production is due to start in March of this year and in September - 3,000 and 7,000. It is a completely new brand, a new quality," he said.

The Uzbek president also underscored the agreements regarding a cotton cluster.

"Both of our teams have already reached an agreement. Land plots have been allocated. I believe that in this area we will also achieve the results that we have discussed. We had lots of problems in silkworm breeding, but I think that they are being resolved very well. The heads of our silkworm breeding enterprises have reported to me that they are working like at home, they say all conditions are being created for us like at home. I have been told that all issues in machine building, preferences are also being resolved at parliament's level. It means that in the future we will have a very large number of joint projects in these sectors as well," Mirziyoyev said.

Aliyev, for his part, said that the previous year set records in terms of the development of bilateral relations.

"I visited Uzbekistan three times, and this year is starting with your visit. In other words, we will meet many times this year, I am certain of that, because we always have something to discuss, there are scores of topics. What counts most is that all decisions that we make are implemented on time and, I think, even on a larger scale then we plan," the Azerbaijani president said.

Aliyev highlighted a project to build a school in the Karabakh district of Azerbaijan, which is being implemented at the Uzbek president's initiative.

"It is the first project that is financed by a foreign state. It is a school that is your personal gift to former refugees. We are very grateful for that. The Azerbaijani people highly values it. The construction is going successfully. God willing, we will celebrate [its opening] together this year," he said.

Mirziyoyev arrived in Baku on Wednesday on a two-day visit at Aliyev's invitation. On Thursday, the Uzbek president will attend a summit of the Non-Aligned Movement Contact Group in response to Covid-19.