TASHKENT, March 12 (Xinhua) -- Uzbekistan's President Shavkat Mirziyoyev and German Chancellor Angela Merkel hold talks in a video conference format to discuss bilateral relations in the post-pandemic period, Uzbek president's press service said Friday.
The two leaders agreed to expand cooperation between the countries in the context of the crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as to continue interaction on Uzbekistan's accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO), it said.
Mirziyoyev made Uzbekistan's joining the WTO one of his political priorities when he came to power in 2016. Uzbekistan launched the official negotiation process last year.
Germany is a traditional technological and investment partner of Uzbekistan. In recent years trade turnover has grown by 1.5 times, and around 50 new joint ventures have been set up, the press service said.
According to the press service, in 2020 the volume of investments by German companies in Uzbek economy exceeded 700 million U.S. dollars. Enditem