Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) - On 16 January, the Minister of Investment and Foreign Trade Sardor Umurzakov met with the Vice President of the World Bank Cyril Muller, during which the parties discussed issues of bilateral cooperation, the results of joint activities in 2019, the current status of ongoing projects and prospects for expanding cooperation in 2020.

Mr. Muller emphasized the results of reforms achieved by the Government of Uzbekistan and their favorable effect on economic growth in 2019. The Vice President of the World Bank also noted a significant increase in exports in the textile, automotive and fruit and vegetable sectors, and as a result, an optimization of the country’s trade balance, which, he said, is a sign of increasing the sustainability of the national economy.

It was recommended that attention be paid to the intensive development of the real sector of the economy due to the wide involvement of the population in entrepreneurial activity, which in turn will enhance social support for the population by increasing budget revenues.

It should be noted that in 2019 the World Bank approved financing of projects totaling US$956.6 million, including those related to the development of entrepreneurship in the Ferghana Valley (US$200 million); institutional capacity building (US$33 million); improving the early development of children (73.85 million dollars); providing budget support (US$500 million); strengthening the social protection system (US$50 million); the implementation of the project "Obod Qishloq" (US$100 million).

Initiatives implemented with the financial support of the World Bank are of great importance for the socio-economic development of the country. Thus, the implementation of the project “Comprehensive development of medium-sized cities” will allow for a phased transition to a systematic and systematic development of cities in Uzbekistan, which is also supported by other international financial partner institutions - the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB). In this context, the prospects of cooperation with the World Bank for the joint development of the National Program for the Development of Middle Cities, which implies the introduction of modern approaches to urban development and its financing, were discussed.

Separately, issues of intensification of cooperation on the implementation of projects on the basis of public-private partnerships were touched upon - in 2019, with the support of the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a tender for the construction of a 100 MW solar power plant in Navoi region was successfully held. The World Bank leadership expressed its readiness to continue active assistance to the Government of Uzbekistan in the preparation of projects of this scale.

Particular attention was paid to enhancing interaction on coordination of development partners of Uzbekistan in the framework of the "Country Platform", a single platform for interaction with international financial institutions. The parties discussed practical measures to implement the agreements reached during the first Country Platform in October 2019 in Washington, affecting a wide range of processes of socio-economic transformation of Uzbekistan and support of international financial organizations in these processes.

The discussion also touched upon the current state and prospects of foreign trade of Uzbekistan, in connection with which the steps taken to join the World Trade Organization and the opportunities for cooperation in this direction were discussed.

Following the meeting, further steps were identified for the development of cooperation and the implementation of joint activities.