BAKU, Azerbaijan, November 20. The conference of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) on "Advancing Women's Rights and Empowerment" is very important for the development of cooperation between Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan in many areas, Deputy Prime Minister of Uzbekistan Zulaiho Mahkamova said during her speech at the event, TurkicWorld reports.

Mahkamova stated that 210 firms in Uzbekistan are run with Azerbaijani finance, and that there is room for future expansion of economic cooperation.

She stated that the conference today will help to develop cooperation between Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan.

"Uzbekistan has joined the mission to strengthen women's rights." To attain this goal, our country has made a number of significant initiatives. "Approximately 100 legal documents have been adopted, and a number of international documents on this subject have been approved," the official stated.

The deputy prime minister further underlined that, in order to encourage women's entrepreneurship, Uzbekistan has begun granting preferential loans.

The conference is being held in Baku under the joint organization of Azerbaijan (current NAM chair), Uganda, and Uzbekistan (future NAM chairs), on the basis of initiatives announced by President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev at the ministerial meeting of the NAM Coordination Bureau in July this year.