An American delegation headed by the U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Robert Blake arrived in Uzbekistan on February 17-18 to take part in annual bilateral consultations on political and economic issues. On February 18, representatives of ten leading American companies led by the head of the American-Uzbekistan Chamber of Commerce and Uzbek officials participated in a business forum. The agenda of the consultations included bilateral cooperation in the political, trade-economic, investment, cultural-humanitarian and other spheres. The parties also exchanged opinions on problems of international and regional security of common interest. Blake summarized the results of the consultations at the press conference that took place at the U.S. Embassy in Uzbekistan.
The first round of political consultations between the U.S. and Uzbekistan took place in December 2009 in Washington, DC. As a result of the meeting Uzbekistan approved an action plan for bilateral cooperation in the political and economic spheres, along with security, human resources, and supporting peace and stability in Afghanistan. Furthermore, several projects are implemented within the trade-economic and fuel and energy sectors.
In the second round of consultations, Blake noted that the main goal of the current visit, specifically regarding business cooperation, was to negotiate conditions acceptable to U.S. businessmen, rather than realizing specific projects.
During the Uzbek-American forum the Assistant Secretary stated that the U.S. intends to increase the volume of Uzbek goods for American troops in Afghanistan. According to him, the U.S. side has already purchased ”items for more than US$ 5 million in October 2010” and considers the possibility of further expanding this cooperation. Meanwhile, serious discussions over Uzbekistan becoming the main food supplier for NATO in Afghanistan continue. Currently, this role is performed by the United Arab Emirates.
It should be noted that in 2010 the trade turnover between Uzbekistan and the U.S. constituted US$ 181 million. As Blake noted, the U.S. Government will work with the American-Uzbekistan Chamber of Commerce in developing proposals for practical steps to improve the business climate in Uzbekistan. The President of Uzbekistan in turn expressed confidence that the Chamber of Commerce as such “will become an important instrument for expanding trade-economic and investment cooperation between the two countries”.
Perhaps as a result of these intentions, major American companies such as Honevwell, Boeing, Exxon Mobile, Zeppelin International, Caterpillar and Nukem that participated in the forum reached agreements on mobilizing U.S. technology and investments in several spheres of the Uzbek economy, such as oil and gas, chemical, petrochemical, and mechanical engineering, the electro-technical industry, the production of construction materials and others. For instance, on February 21 the leadership of the Uzbek national holding company Uzbekneftegas met with representatives of Zeppelin and agreed to establish technical cooperation. In addition, representatives of General Electric Energy stated that it plans to take part in realizing projects to modernize the Tashkent and Talimarjan thermal power plants in Uzbekistan.
Speaking of the results of the political and economic consultations, Blake noted that the parties reached a number of agreements, specifically on the expansion of educational exchanges, cooperation between the U.S. Congress and Uzbekistan’s Parliament, and intensified consultations on Afghanistan. Thus, he stated that the major priorities of the U.S. include expanding the U.S. presence in Uzbekistan and other Central Asian countries.
In sum, the second round of the consultations can be considered a success, having reached a number of agreements in the political and economic spheres. In terms of U.S. political interests in Uzbekistan, the consultations brought about intensified cooperation on issues related to Afghanistan.
However, while several leading U.S. companies held negotiations with their Uzbek counterparts for further cooperation, it is telling that the Assistant Secretary emphasized that the main goal of the visit was to establish positive conditions for U.S. businessmen in Uzbekistan, i.e. not to make actual investments in the Uzbek economy. Thus, even though numerous praises to the ”successfully developing” Uzbek economy were voiced during the meeting, it seems that U.S. businessmen are still hesitant to make actual investments in the country.