On July 1, 2026, the Uzbekistan-Georgia Business Forum took place in Tbilisi, organized to deepen economic, investment, and industrial ties between Uzbekistan and Georgia. This event served as an important platform for open dialogue among representatives of government bodies, financial institutions, and business circles from both countries.
Significance and Participants of the Forum
The forum was held shortly before the first official visit of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan to Georgia in twenty-three years, lending special weight to the meeting and demonstrating the parties' readiness for a new level of practical interaction. The opening of the forum was attended by the Minister of Investment, Industry, and Trade of the Republic of Uzbekistan, Laziz Kudratov, and the Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia, Mariam Kvrishvili.
About 300 executives and representatives from various structures participated in the forum: companies, financial institutions, free industrial zones, industry associations, and consulting firms from Uzbekistan and Georgia. Among the Georgian participants were structures such as Poti Free Industrial Zone, Tbilisi Free Zone, Hualing Free Industrial Zone, as well as banks TBC Bank and Bank of Georgia, and companies PwC, Grant Thornton, Maersk, Aramex Georgia, Softgen, DataMind, GM Pharmaceuticals, and Aversi-Rational, representing logistics, energy, construction, pharmaceuticals, IT, tourism, hospitality, agriculture, and food industry sectors.
Economic Achievements and Goals
During the event, data on the development of the Uzbek economy was presented: since 2017, the country's economy has doubled, and in 2025, GDP growth reached 7.7 percent. A significant increase in the number of foreign investors was also noted: if there were about four thousand enterprises with foreign capital in the country in 2017, their number has now grown to twenty thousand.
A positive trend in Uzbek-Georgian trade relations was emphasized. In 2025, the volume of mutual trade reached 268 million US dollars. The parties set a common goal to increase this figure to 1 billion US dollars, transforming relations from simple trade to industrial partnership, joint production, investment, and entry into new markets.
Key Areas of Cooperation
Forum participants discussed the main vectors for developing substantive partnership. Special attention was paid to transport and logistics, including utilizing the potential of the Middle Corridor and Georgia's role as a natural route for Uzbekistan's access to the Black Sea and European markets. In this context, the project to create a trade and logistics and production hub in the Poti Free Industrial Zone was discussed.
To strengthen logistical links, the adoption of the Industrial Cooperation Program until 2027 is planned, which will serve as a roadmap for launching new productions, investment projects, and forming sustainable ties between enterprises of both countries.
Pharmaceuticals, Agriculture, and IT
Prospects in the pharmaceutical and agro-industrial sectors were examined. Georgian companies were offered the possibility of establishing production facilities in Uzbekistan, for example, based on the innovative cluster 'Tashkent Pharma Park', followed by entry into Central Asian markets. The parties saw potential in combining Uzbekistan's raw material base with Georgia's experience in winemaking, food processing, branding, and premium packaging to create high value-added products.
Other important areas included energy, electrical engineering, and digital services. In the IT sector, given similar export growth rates, the focus was placed on fintech, e-commerce, artificial intelligence, BPO services, and the digitalization of logistics processes.
Finance and Tourism
Financial interaction was viewed as support for the real sector. An example of success was the activities of TBC Bank in Uzbekistan, where TBC Bank Group and its partners have already invested over 460 million US dollars. It is planned to activate the use of such mechanisms to support infrastructure, export, and industrial projects.
Stable growth in mutual interest in tourism was also noted: tourist flow from Georgia to Uzbekistan increased more than two and a half times compared to 2019, and the number of trips by Uzbek citizens to Georgia grew by 50.2 percent in 2025. This opens up opportunities to create routes connecting the Silk Road, the Caucasus, and the Black Sea region, as well as for joint work in hospitality and wellness tourism.
Concluding Results
During the main session, presentations were given by the President of the Georgian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Giorgi Pertia, and the Director of the Investment Attraction Agency of Uzbekistan, Roxana Nesor, as well as representatives of investment structures. The forum concluded with the signing of bilateral agreements, as well as the holding of B2B and G2B meetings for detailed elaboration of specific projects and further development of mutually beneficial partnership.