Tashkent's accession to the Chabahar Agreement is nearing completion, Chairman of the newly-formed Iran-Uzbekistan Joint Chamber of Commerce Mousa Aghaei said on Saturday but provided no more details.
He said that Tashkent joining the Agreement is a win-win measure for both Iran and Uzbekistan and is also beneficial for Central Asian countries.
Aghaei said that “we have to prepare the ground for Uzbekistan to make investments in the project.”
He expressed satisfaction over bilateral trade between Iran and Uzbekistan, saying Iran’s exports to Uzbekistan during the first nine months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 21 – December 21, 2021) stood at $350 million with Uzbekistan exporting some $150 million worth of commodities to Iran over the nine-month period.
Uzbekistan announced late October 2021 it plans to hold a second trilateral meeting with Iran and India to discuss the joint use of Chabahar port on Iran's Makran coast for trade and transit.
The first virtual meeting of the trilateral working group was held in December 2020. The three sides will set the date for the second meeting, Uzbekistan’s Deputy Foreign Minister Furkat Sidikov has said on the sidelines of a roundtable on foreign policy issues in Tashkent.
Senior officials have said Uzbekistan will push ahead with the joint plan with India and Iran to promote connectivity through the Chabahar port, as part of the country’s efforts to improve and diversify access to sea routes for trade.