The Parliament of Uzbekistan decided to take countermeasures against Ukraine, which initiated an investigation into the import of Uzbek cars. In particular, this practice aims to reduce the import of Ukrainian goods by replacing them with Uzbek or Russian goods, Fergana News reported.
Uzbek legislators described the actions of Ukraine as 'unfriendly protectionist positions of national producers.'
‘If the objective is to limit the import of cars from Uzbekistan, then why wouldn’t Uzbekistan do the same thing about the goods imported from Ukraine? Why don’t we think about it?’, MP Rasul Kusherbaev posted on Facebook. He added that the Uzbek government has to be ready to introduce similar measures against Ukraine.
Member of the Legislative Chamber Abdulrashid Abdukodirov made a similar statement on Facebook. He claimed that Uzbekistan is capable to reply to such gross measures. The MP said that one of the measures is the reduction of imports from Ukraine by replacing them with the domestic manufactured goods or the import of similar goods from Russia.
Confectionery and oil and fat products, medicines and sugar may be affected. The MPs urged the government to consider the question regarding the import of these goods to the Uzbek market.
Member of the Committee for Budget and Economic Reforms of the Parliament of Uzbekistan Abdulrashid Tukhtabaev claimed that there are cases of the violation of the national legislation during the delivery of pharmaceutical products to Uzbek market.
In October 2018, Ukraine initiated the investigation of the import of cars from Uzbekistan on the request by Ukraine's association of vehicle manufacturers UkrAutoProm. According to the version of the Ukrainian side, the Uzbek manufacturers could have received grants from the state bodies of Uzbekistan and use individual benefits from such grants. The car import from Uzbekistan has increased by 760 percent over the last several years, which, according to the UkrAutoProm may cause substantial harm to the national manufacturer. Over the last three years, Uzbekistan imported Ukrainian goods for the total amount of $642 million, Ukraine imported Uzbek goods for $169 million.
