Tashkent (VNA) 🌠– National Assembly Chairman Tran Thanh Man attended the Vietnam-Uzbekistan business dialogue on April 8 morning (local time), as part of his ongoing official visit to Uzbekistan.

Uzbek Deputy Prime Minister Khodjayev Jamshid Abdukhakimovich opened the event, urging a boost in two-way trade, which is currently modest, by leveraging favourable conditions. He touted Uzbekistan’s economic progress and transparent investment policies, pitching opportunities in win-win projects in the fields of oil and gas, aviation, transport, telecoms, digital technology, infrastructure, health care, rice production, and aquaculture. NA Chairman Man reflected on the growing bilateral ties on both bilateral and multilateral fronts since diplomatic ties began in 1992. Vietnam's investment in Uzbekistan, totaling over 4.4 million USD in five projects, stands as a testament to this thriving partnership. Economic and trade ties have surged by nearly 25% annually since 2021, with trade exceeding 200 million USD in 2024 alone. Direct flights have spurred tourism, with over 20,000 Uzbek visitors to Vietnam last year. He proposed stronger partnership in agriculture and agricultural product processing, pairing Uzbekistan’s cotton, fruit, and quality farm products with Vietnam’s processing and aquaculture expertise to build a supply chain for global markets, aided by the Eurasian Economic Union-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement. In the textiles and footwear industry, Man mentioned potential in combining Uzbekistan’s cotton exports with Vietnam’s manufacturing strengths to meet international demand, saying that deeper collaboration in raw material supply, production, and distribution could also generate substantial added value. Energy emerged as another focus, with Vietnam’s renewable energy development aligning with Uzbekistan’s rich natural gas and renewable energy potential. Man envisioned both nations as strategic partners in sustainable energy, sharing experience, technology and investment. A planned new direct flight route this year drew praise from Man as a “breakthrough” for business, investment, and tourism. He called for joint tourism products to showcase both countries’ cultural and natural assets. To further deepen bilateral ties, particularly in investment and trade, he urged support for regular business exchanges in oil and gas, mining, agriculture, and tourism, alongside high-level visits to build trust.

Vietnam, he affirmed, is committed to acting as a bridge for Uzbekistan to enhance its relations with ASEAN, hoping that Uzbekistan would reciprocate by facilitating Vietnam's cooperation with Central Asian countries. Ministries, agencies, and industry associations were encouraged to serve as a bridge promoting exchanges and collaboration based on mutual benefit and success. The Vietnamese leader urged the two governments to further improve business and investment environment, offering maximum support to enterprises to do business successfully in line with legal regulations. The Vietnamese NA commits to fine-tuning the legal framework to foster a transparent and business-friendly environment, he said, wishing that the Uzbek legislature and relevant authorities would ease market access for Vietnamese companies. Representatives of ministries, branches, localities and enterprises of Vietnam and Uzbekistan said that the potential and room for cooperation between the two countries are still very large. The two sides should step up cooperation in the fields of energy, agriculture, transport, and tourism. Enterprises also expressed their wish to continue receiving attention and favourable conditions from the two governments and parliaments to further promote cooperative relations between businesses of the two sides. On this occasion, Chairman Man witnessed the signing of multiple cooperation agreements between ministries and agencies of Vietnam and Uzbekistan./.