Uzbekistan: Investment, visa issues to be ironed out, says DPM

TASHKENT: The Uzbekistan government has pledged to look into ways to facilitate Malaysian investments into this Central Asian country as well as address visa issues to help boost tourism activities between both sides.
Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said these were among the issues raised in his talks with Uzbekistan's Prime Minister Shavkat Mirziyoyev here on Monday.
Briefing Malaysian media Tuesday on the outcome of the meeting, he said Mirziyoyev would like to see more Malaysian companies investing in Uzbekistan in fields such as infrastructure development and transportation.
But Muhyiddin noted that Malaysian companies had expressed concerns over certain rules and policies that were not favourable to their presence here, such as the one concerning repatriation of profits.
"This is viewed as a big hindrance for them. So the joint trade committee (between the two countries) will look into this with a view to encouraging the involvement of Malaysian firms in projects in Uzbekistan," he said.
Muhyiddin said both sides also concurred on the need to expand the scope of bilateral trade towards increasing its volume which amounted to a relatively low US$71 million last year.
The deputy prime minister said he raised the issue of visa regime for Malaysians visiting Uzbekistan -- home to famed historical sites such as Samarkand, Bukhara and Khiva -- to increase tourist arrivals from the Southeast Asian nation.
The Malaysian deputy prime minister noted that Mirziyoyez pledged to look into it. Currently, Uzbekistan nationals enjoy a one-month visa-free stay in Malaysia whereas Malaysians need to apply for visa in advance to travel to this country.
Last year, Malaysia received some 11,000 visitors from Uzbekistan while only 4,000 Malaysians visited the republic.
On another matter, Muhyiddin said Uzbekistan supported Malaysia's bid for positions in key international bodies, including a non-permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council for the term 2015-2016.
Kuala Lumpur is also eyeing for a slot on the Human Rights Council allocated to the Asia-Pacific Group for 2017-2019 and Unesco Executive Board for 2015-2019.
Muhyiddin said Mirziyoyez expressed hope that Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak would visit Uzbekistan.
On his talks with Uzbekistan's Deputy Prime Minister Ikramov Adham Ilkhamovich, who is also in charge of education, Muhyiddin said Kuala Lumpur agreed to help Uzbekistan enhance the quality of its English teachers.
"We may send our teachers here or they may send their teachers to Malaysia to enhance their proficiency of the language," he said.
Muhyiddin, who is also Education Minister, said he also raised the issue of recognition of Malaysian degrees to assist Uzbekistan students who studied in Malaysia.
"The Uzbekistan deputy prime minister stated that he would give serious attention to this matter," said Muhyiddin, who is on a four-day official visit to this country since Sunday. – Bernama