ADB, Uzbekistan Train 250 Officials on AI, New Economy Futures

Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) — A large-scale educational initiative focused on future-readiness assessment, new economy models, and long-term growth drivers concluded in Uzbekistan on June 10, following nearly a month of seminars and workshops that ran from May 12 across multiple venues.

The program was implemented in partnership with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) as part of its strategic engagement with Uzbekistan's Ministry of Economy and Finance. Its stated goal was to build national capacity to identify and act on opportunities shaped by global economic transformation, artificial intelligence, and technological innovation.

The lead trainer and moderator was Samer Chidiac — an international strategic foresight expert and former Head of Innovation at Microsoft — who guided participants through frameworks for connecting global trends to national policy priorities and the country's entrepreneurial ecosystem.

The 250-plus delegates included senior staff and specialists from the Ministry of Economy and Finance, analysts from the Institute of Macroeconomic and Territorial Research (IMTR), faculty from Samarkand State University (SamSU), and representatives of the regional business community.

The curriculum was segmented by audience. Four specialized seminars for ministry staff and IMTR analysts reached approximately 80 participants, while a dedicated session at the Ministry drew a further 70 officials. The program's final stage took place at SamSU, where around 120 entrepreneurs from Samarkand region examined private-sector adaptation to technological change, digital platform integration, and big data analytics.

The practical outputs were concrete: participants produced roughly 60 applied mini-scenarios analyzing prospective market trends, and eight comprehensive strategic proposals targeting economic diversification and national competitiveness were presented to an expert panel.

Organizers said the initiative is intended to lay the institutional groundwork for embedding futures-oriented thinking into Uzbekistan's public administration and aligning the country's long-term development plans with contemporary technological trajectories.