The minister of industry, mining, and trade traveled to Uzbekistan as the head of a commercial and knowledge-based delegation. During the trip, the head of international affairs & technological exchange center was present along with the managers of 14 knowledge-based companies.

The travel was made with the goal of attending the 13^th joint cooperation meetings of Iran and Uzbekistan and showcasing the technological achievements of the country. In total, 13 out of 40 private Iranian companies were knowledge-based, attending the event with the goal of finding a suitable market for their products.

During the two-day trip, the delegation visited the specialized exhibition of Iran in Tashkent in the presence of 20 Iranian companies and in line with introducing the production and industrial abilities of the country. In addition, export development and attention to trade cooperation with neighboring countries and Eurasia have been introduced as one of the main activities of the Ministry of Industry, Mining and Trade this year.

In addition, joint cooperation meetings were held between knowledge-based companies of the two countries.

During the trip, the vice president for science and technology affairs was able to obtain the permission for the presence of 73 Uzbek companies to track the needs of knowledge-based companies present on the journey for the first time through digital marketing and liaison with a private Uzbek company. This enabled the negotiation of Uzbek technology companies with Iranian knowledge-based companies. Signing of the official document of the Joint Commission between the Minister of Industry, Mining and Trade of our country and the Deputy Prime Minister of Uzbekistan were also on the agenda of this business trip.

Uzbekistan is an Important Economic Center for Iran

Mahdi Ghalenoei, the head of the international affairs & technological exchange center, talked about the 13^th joint meeting of Iran and Uzbekistan, expressing: Uzbekistan, as an important economic hub in Iran"s neighborhood, has been a friendly country for many years, and has always been on the path to expanding Iran"s trade relations.

According to Ghalenoei, Iran has always strived to provide mutual cooperation opportunities by relying on good relations.

He continued: technological advances in other countries, regional and international environmental problems, the need to innovate in different sciences, the need to focus on optimizing energy consumption, the need to apply cognitive science and the need to increase economic productivity and competitiveness can further enhance the two countries" willingness to collaborate.

The head of the international affairs & technological exchange center continued: therefore, technology and innovation cooperation between Iran and Uzbekistan helps to strengthen and strengthen the level of bilateral relations in this sector. We hope that new science and technology such as nanotechnology, biotechnology, aerospace sciences, cognitive sciences and new energies in the shadow of academic collaborations can provide the speed of development and advancement for a better future in this geographic region.

According to Ghalenoei, the expansion of trade between Iran and Uzbekistan could serve the economic interests of both countries. Uzbekistan can easily access growing markets in the Persian Gulf, North and East Africa, Pakistan, India and Southeast Asia through Iran and the free waters of the Oman Sea.

The head of the international affairs & technological exchange also claimed: the existence of different technologies in the two countries should pave the way for the development of joint ventures in the two countries to create large manufacturing companies and innovators so as to further develop economic growth through the production and sale of these products to the growing markets.

He continued: today, more than 4600 knowledge-based companies provide services in Iran, for which there is access to international markets in addition to domestic markets in case of joint investment for mass production.

A report by the public relations and information center of the Vice-Presidency for science and technology affairs