Results of the Uzbek-German Business Forum

The delegation of IT Park, consisting of the Director of IT Park Uzbekistan Farhod Ibragimov, the Deputy Director of IT Park for innovation Jahongir Rajabov and others, took part in the Uzbek-German business forum, which was held on May 2 in Berlin.

The Forum has become a large-scale business platform, which brought together more than 250 Heads of large companies, holdings, banks, ministries and industrial associations of the two republics. Representatives of the two countries discussed the latest high-tech developments, opportunities for cooperation and the implementation of new joint projects.

The event highlighted the active development of bilateral relations between Uzbekistan and Germany in recent years, which became possible thanks to the trust and political will of the heads of the two states. Thus, the volume of bilateral trade has doubled over the past 5 years, and by the end of 2022, the indicators increased by 50% and for the first time exceeded 1 billion euros.

Dynamics is observed both in investment cooperation and in industrial partnership. The number of enterprises with the participation of German capital, created in Uzbekistan, has almost tripled over the past few years and exceeded 200 units. The total volume of German investments has grown 11 times since 2017 and exceeded 4 billion euros.  Many German companies such as MAN, CLAAS, Knauf, GP Papenburg, Viessmann, Deutsche Kabel, LEMKEN are already actively and successfully doing business in Uzbekistan and launching new production facilities.

The attention of German business circles was drawn to the conditions created in Uzbekistan for the comfortable work of foreign investors, as well as to the strengths of the Uzbek economy. In particular, high personnel potential, strategic geographic location, free trade regimes with the CIS countries, rich raw material resources and direct support of the leadership and the state in joint projects and initiatives.

 

At the forum, negotiations were held in the B2B format, as well as presentations of concrete examples and projects in various sectors of the economy of Uzbekistan.

As a result of the business forum, trade, investment and technology agreements worth $9 billion were signed.

In particular, within the framework of the forum, on May 2, a solemn ceremony of signing a Memorandum of Understanding between the Ministry of Digital Technologies of the Republic of Uzbekistan and Amazon Web Services (AWS), EMEA SARL was held.

Cooperation with AWS, the world leader in the cloud computing industry, will be a unique opportunity to advance the modernization and digital transformation of Uzbekistan. In particular, the document will allow the parties to assess the possibility of organizing joint discussions in the field of digital transformation of the public sector in Uzbekistan, digital literacy, knowledge and best practices in the field of digital skills and research, innovation, fundamental policies and regulations that support cloud technologies.

As noted during the ceremony, cooperation under the MoU may include the sharing of AWS knowledge and general guidance on AI/ML education and research. 

The Ministry, according to the document, will provide AWS with the opportunity to participate in industry consultations on draft laws, regulations, and policies relating to cloud computing, data classification, and data privacy (“Legislation”).

In turn, AWS will support the ministry by providing information, advice, and sharing common AWS best practices regarding legislation.

Additionally, negotiations are underway between IT Park resident Websale-Distribution (RevoTech) and the German company Duvenbeck to launch a large joint BPO project. 

The project involves attracting investment in the amount of more than $100 million and creating a company. The joint company will provide logistics services in the USA and outsource business processes to Uzbekistan, resulting in a win-win situation for both parties.

The project is estimated to create over 500 jobs and generate over $50 million in export services. It is expected that an agreement between the parties will be signed within 6 months.

Within the framework of the forum, the IT Park delegation also held a meeting with the Director of FZD Global GmbH Fazliddin Akhmedov, jointly with whom IT Park representative office was opened in Germany. The parties discussed the increase in the volume of exports of services by IT Park resident companies to Germany and the EU countries, the activities of the IT Park representative office in Heidelberg and its work plan for 2023-2024.

Representatives of Uzbekistan also held a meeting with Peter Ambre, a board member of the Innovationszentren association, Head of the Science and Technology Park Berlin Adlershof and Director of Technology Center and Incubator Management at Vista GmbH.

Peter Ambre expressed interest in cooperation with IT Park in the field of education and asked the Head of the IT department to develop a cooperation plan.

At the meeting, proposals were also made to invite IT companies belonging to the association to Uzbekistan and familiarize them with all the possibilities.