Uzbek-Arab business forum, in which representatives of business circles of Saudi Arabia participated in, was held in Tashkent on May 25.

In the course of business forum representatives of Saudi Arabia business circles expressed interest in expansion of cooperation with Uzbekistan in different spheres of economy, as reported in Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Uzbekistan.

Among participants were representatives of financial and credit institutions, ministries, enterprises of oil and gas, tourism, transportation sectors of Saudi Arabia. Forms of cooperation were discussed during the forum, and concrete spheres of investment were determined.

"We would really like to enter into cooperation in areas of energetics, transportation, construction industry of tourism," head of the delegation Saudi Arabian Chamber of Commerce and Industry Chairman Deputy Rakhman al-Jeirasi stated. The volume of investments into these spheres "is planned to be significant," delegation head said. Another strategic sector for strengthening partnership, defined by delegation, is free industrial economic zone Navoi.

Commodity exchange between Uzbekistan and Saudi Arabia constituted US $2.8 million by the end of 2008. 7 enterprises with share of capital from Saudi Arabia function on the territory of Uzbekistan. Their spheres of activity are oil and gas sector, transportation, information and communication technologies, tourism, others.