Baku, November 13, AZERTAC

On November 13, Ilham Aliyev, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, met with Shavkat Mirziyoyev, President of the Republic of Uzbekistan.

Shavkat Mirziyoyev congratulated Azerbaijan on the successful hosting of COP29, commending the excellent organization of the event. He said Uzbekistan, as a friend, brother, and ally of Azerbaijan, was happy about this. The President of Uzbekistan noted that Azerbaijan holds a special place in Uzbekistan.

The President of Uzbekistan also highlighted the historic period in bilateral relations, with the signing of an Agreement on Allied Relations earlier this year. Shavkat Mirziyoyev praised the close cooperation and successful implementation of joint projects by delegations from both countries.

President Ilham Aliyev thanked the President of Uzbekistan for attending COP29.

Touching on the importance of the signed documents, the President of Azerbaijan said that the implementation of green energy development and transmission projects reflects the essence of relations between the countries.

The head of state expressed his gratitude for the project related to the construction of a sewing factory in the city of Khankendi and emphasized the importance of providing employment to a large number of people.

During the meeting, the Presidents expressed their satisfaction with the implementation of the Uzbekistan House in Baku and the Azerbaijan House in Uzbekistan projects, the opening of a trade representative office of Azerbaijan in Uzbekistan, as well as projects in education, engineering, construction, mining, pharmaceuticals, cotton growing, and tourism.

Following the meeting, the Presidents of Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan joined the opening ceremony of a sewing factory in the city of Khankendi via video link.

President Ilham Aliyev: Congratulations.

President Shavkat Mirziyoyev: Congratulations. It's a successful start.

President Ilham Aliyev: It is written here both in Azerbaijani and Uzbek languages. The words are the same.

This factory is another symbol of our unity. I express my gratitude to my brother Shavkat Miromonovich for the fact that our Uzbek friends have helped to establish a wonderful enterprise in Khankendi in a short period of time. Thousands of people will work here and, of course, most of them will be women. This is employment, this is production, this is the development of Karabakh. Our Uzbek brothers are the first here, too. They were the first to help us in building a school in Fuzuli, and they were the first to help us in creating such a large enterprise in the liberated territories.

I would like to once again express my gratitude to Shavkat Miromonovich, all our Uzbek friends, and brothers for such a brotherly attitude and congratulate you on the opening of this enterprise.

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The construction of the sewing factory was carried out based on the instructions of the Presidents of the two countries to deepen the economic and investment cooperation between Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan. The total investment cost of the project is 11 million manats. Joint industrial cooperation is in place to supply raw materials to the factory. The enterprise will operate using both local and Uzbek raw materials. 80 percent of the factory’s products will be exported to different countries, making a significant contribution to the growth of non-oil exports in the region. Covering an area of 1.2 hectares, the facility will produce 3-5 million units of various knitted products per year. In total, 800 jobs will be created. 250 people have received professional training at the initial stage of the project and are currently employed. Special attention has been paid to the employment of people returning to the territories liberated from occupation and living in surrounding districts. As a symbol of successful cooperation between the two countries, the sewing factory, a joint venture of Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan, opens new opportunities for the development of light industry in the country and strengthens traditional friendly and economic partnership relations.