ANKARA, July 24. /Dunyo IA/. Ambassador of Uzbekistan Ilkhom Khaydarov met with Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu, President of the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Türkiye (TOBB), reports Dunyo IA correspondent.

Founded on March 8, 1950, in Ankara, TOBB unites all regional chambers of commerce and industry, as well as commodity exchanges across Türkiye. Today, the organization includes 367 chambers and exchanges, with around 2 million member enterprises.

During the meeting, the current state and future prospects of trade, economic, and investment cooperation between the two countries were discussed.

Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu shared that he had visited Uzbekistan several times and participated in various events and business forums with Uzbek and Turkish entrepreneurs. He fondly recalled his meeting with President Shavkat Mirziyoyev in April 2023, where he presented Türkiye’s national electric vehicle, TOGG.

The parties also discussed enhancing cooperation with TOBB University of Economics and Technology (TOBB ETÜ), including increasing the number of academic exchanges from Ankara to Tashkent. Currently, 30 students of the Tashkent branch of TOBB ETÜ are studying in Ankara.

As a result of the meeting, an agreement was reached to familiarize with the activities of the Economic Policy Research Foundation of Türkiye (TEPAV) under TOBB and to explore opportunities for leveraging its experience and resources.

The TOBB President noted that since 2024, efforts have been actively underway to expand cooperation in the fields of textiles, leather and footwear, construction materials, glass, furniture, pharmaceuticals, and jewelry. Negotiations on joint projects in these areas are ongoing.

The parties agreed to jointly organize a "Uzbekistan Investors Day" in Istanbul in September–October this year and to continue developing interregional cooperation.