President of Uzbekistan receives EBRD chief

Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- On 1 August, the President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev received the President of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) Suma Chakrabarti, the Uzbek leader’s press service said.

Warmly welcoming the guest, Uzbek President expressed deep satisfaction with the high dynamics of development of mutually beneficial cooperation between Uzbekistan and the EBRD.

Since the meeting in Tashkent in March 2017, the parties held a great practical joint work and achieved the first concrete results.

During this period, the bank allocated credit lines worth over US$190 million to finance projects to support entrepreneurship in the country.

Currently, there are pending projects in the field of rural infrastructure and housing construction, modernization of energy facilities and utilities, business support and other areas worth over US$1 billion. Of these, in the coming months, it is planned to approve projects worth up to US$600 million.

Work is completed on the EBRD’s strategy for cooperation with Uzbekistan, the adoption of which is scheduled for September 2018.

In addition, in November 2017, the representative office of the bank resumed its activities in Tashkent, it is planned to establish its branches in the regions of the country.

EBRD experts took an active part in developing a new order aimed at improving the efficiency of preparation and implementation of investment projects in the country with the participation of international financial institutions.

Joint work is also being done on a long-term program for reforming the energy sector and development of renewable energy in Uzbekistan.

During the meeting, issues of further expansion of mutually beneficial cooperation, its filling with new programs and projects, primarily in the areas of support and development of reform strategies for key industries, enterprise pre-privatization preparation, introduction of public-private partnership mechanisms, integrated development of regions, as well as private investment in economy of the republic were discussed.

In turn, Suma Chakrabarti praised the reforms in the sphere of state and public construction, liberalization of the economy, which contribute to the sustainable development of the country, to raising the level and quality of life of the population, as well as to the growth of the authority of Uzbekistan on the international level arena.

President of the EBRD stressed the importance and expressed his strong support for the initiatives of the head of Uzbekistan, aimed at deepening mutually beneficial and fruitful regional cooperation, ensuring peace, stability and prosperity in Central Asia.

Expressing his deep gratitude to the Uzbek leader for the warm welcome, he confirmed the readiness of the bank for further expansion of partnership with Uzbekistan in order to support ongoing large-scale reforms in the country, as well as to strengthen regional cooperation.