The annual meeting of the Uzbek-Chinese Intergovernmental Committee on Cooperation was held in the Uzbekistan capital of Tashkent on Oct. 30.

The event was attended by the heads of ministries and departments in charge of external economic relations, finance, trade and industry, investment, energy, security, science and technology, agriculture, transport and communications, and culture, UZ24 reports.

First Deputy Prime Minister of Uzbekistan, Rustam Azimov, who co-chairs the committee, stressed that cooperation between the two countries is developing in all spheres following agreements between their heads of state.

Bilateral trade in 2012 reached $3.4 billion. In the first half of this year, it was $2.3 billion, a 59 percent increase from the same period last year, according to UZ24.

There are 455 joint ventures in Uzbekistan, including 70 companies fully funded by Chinese capital. Seventy-one are representative offices of Chinese companies.

The meeting included discussions on developing and implementing new joint projects, financial and technical cooperation, and promoting direct contacts between representatives from the business community.