Trade turnover between Russia and Uzbekistan may reach $12bn this year compared to around $10bn in 2022, TASS on April 26 reported Russian Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov as telling reporters.

"As regards this year, we are already seeing incremental growth. I believe we will approach $12 bln unless some cataclysmic events occur," the official was cited as saying.

Manturov also underscored the need to strengthen industrial cooperation and develop joint production facilities.

“Definitely,” he said in reply to a question on whether Tashkent and Moscow plan to establish new JVs. "This is what constitutes the fundamental contribution to [our] trade and economic relations," he was quoted as saying, adding: "Close collaborative ties always translate into stability and guarantee a mutual flow of deliveries [of goods].”

The geopolitical situation has only strengthened cooperation with Russia, Jamshid Khodjaev, Deputy Prime Minister of Uzbekistan, was reported as saying by TASS. "If you ask whether the geopolitical situation has had an impact on our [joint] projects, I would say, yes, in the sense of spurring greater interaction," he noted. "This [situation] provides a greater impetus for the fostering of joint engineering self-sufficiency," Manturov added.

Russian President Vladimir Putin noted the substantial growth in annual bilateral trade in a message of greetings to participants and guests of the Innoprom. Central Asia International Industrial Fair. It ran from April 24 to 26.

"Central Asia has rich natural resources and an immense human potential. Regional economic cooperation processes are demonstrating very high dynamics. Indicative in this regard is the speed at which interaction between the host countries, Russia and Uzbekistan, is developing: their bilateral trade grew by more than a quarter last year," the Russian leader said.

The main Innoprom displays were dedicated to innovations in areas such as mechanical engineering, metallurgy, power generation and information technology, Putin observed.