Uzbekistan, EU aim to boost trade ties
There is significant potential for developing economic cooperation between Uzbekistan and member states of the European Union (EU), which will open up broad opportunities for mutually beneficial partnerships.
In the lead-up to the Central Asia-European Union Summit, which will take place on April 3-4, 2025, in Samarkand, the Centre for Economic Research and Reforms organised an event that highlighted the dynamics of Uzbekistan's trade and investment cooperation with EU countries over the past seven years.
Uzbekistan is interested in attracting European investments and advanced technologies in strategically important sectors such as renewable energy, chemical and pharmaceutical industries, agriculture, and transport logistics, according to a statement released by the embassy of Uzbekistan in Islamabad on Wednesday.
Overall, the upcoming summit in Samarkand may become not only a symbolic but also a practically significant step towards a new level of cooperation, based on pragmatism, mutual benefit and a shared commitment to sustainable development. In the year 2024, the major share of Uzbekistan's trade with EU countries was with Germany (19.1%), France (17.8%), Lithuania (9.4%), Italy (6.9%), the Czech Republic (6.8%), Poland (6%), Latvia (4.5%), the Netherlands (4.2%), Belgium (3.3%), Austria (3.3%) and Slovenia (2.8%).
In Uzbekistan's foreign trade, the European Union ranks third by volume of trade turnover, exports and imports, after China and Russia. In 2024, the share of EU countries in Uzbekistan's foreign trade stood at 9.7%, in exports their share was 6.3%, and in imports it was 12%. Uzbekistan's trade turnover with EU countries from 2017 to 2024 increased 2.4 times from $2.6 billion to $6.4 billion.
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