Trade between Saudi-Uzbek exceeds $95m so far in 2022

 In the first half of 2022, bilateral commerce between Saudi Arabia and the Republic of Uzbekistan increased significantly from the previous year, when it barely topped $17 million, to reach $95 million.

A joint press release predicts that the value will increase quickly by the end of 2022. In the wake of the epidemic, the figures take on significance.

In fact, during the past five years, there had been a rise from nine to 38 Uzbek businesses using Saudi money. 39 of them are joint ventures with the remaining 19 being sole proprietorships.

When Uzbekistan President Shavkat Mirziyoyev visits the Kingdom on Wednesday and Thursday, the two countries will strengthen their relations even further by signing 12 new accords.

High-level discussions between the two countries will reportedly take place in Jeddah where they will reportedly examine ways to further strengthen multilateral cooperation.

The green economy, technology and digitalization, innovations, small businesses, and entrepreneurship will be the main topics of debate.

New agreements in the energy, telecommunications, agriculture, chemical, and petrochemical industries are anticipated to be inked after the summit, in addition to boosting links in culture, sports, and education.

The Kingdom has grown to be one of the biggest foreign investors in energy infrastructure and a major green energy project developer in Uzbekistan.

Uzbek energy giant ACWA Power and the Saudi energy ministry recently agreed to a number of investment deals worth roughly $3 billion.

In the Uzbek province of Karakalpakstan, ACWA Power will construct and manage a 1,500 MW wind energy facility. The facility will be one of the biggest wind power plants in the world when it is completed, making it the biggest of its kind in Central Asia.

The 100MW Nokus wind farm project is the first renewable energy project to be undertaken in collaboration with Uzbekistan's public and commercial sectors, and ACWA Power also inked a deal to create it.

The energy provider also secured a $108 million wind deal after putting out the lowest pricing in Uzbekistan—2.56 cents per kilowatt-hour.

A 25-year power purchase agreement was also inked by the Uzbek Ministry of Energy and ACWA Power to build a combined-cycle gas turbine power plant at Shirin, Uzbekistan, which is part of Syrdarya. The transaction is worth $1.2 billion.

The statement claims that these initiatives would help Uzbekistan reach its national objective of increasing its overall renewable energy generating capacity to 30% by 2030.