Uzbekistan plans to send trade representatives to Iraq and Syria

Starting next year, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Uzbekistan will deploy three trade advisers to Iraq and two to Syria. This was announced on 25 November during an extraordinary session of the Samarkand Regional Council of People’s Deputies in Urgut district, attended by President Shavkat Mirziyoyev.

It was noted that Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan have a combined demand of $30 billion for electrical equipment, textiles, food products, automobiles, pharmaceuticals, and construction materials. However, neither sector leaders nor local governors have so far achieved significant progress in entering these markets.

As a result, by the end of the year, a branch of the Commodity-Raw Materials Exchange will open in Mazar-i-Sharif, Afghanistan, to facilitate the sale of at least 100 types of local products.

From next year, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry will begin operations with three trade advisers in Iraq and two in Syria. It was emphasized that inviting the top 100 Iraqi entrepreneurs to Samarkand to hold an “Uzbekistan-Iraq” business forum is a key priority.

It was also reported that Urgut district currently exports $40 million worth of industrial products annually. Considering that the district produces $350 million worth of industrial goods each year, this figure is considered low. Overall, next year, the region aims to produce products worth 70 trillion soums and create 25,000 jobs in the industrial sector.

For context, on 12 November, a presidential decree established the “US-Uzbekistan Business and Investment Council” and created the position of Uzbekistan’s Presidential Administration representative in the United States. On 24 November, by order of Saidamirziyoyeva, Head of the Presidential Administration, Komil Ismoilovich Allamjonov was appointed as adviser-representative — Uzbekistan’s Presidential Administration representative in the US.