Uzbekistan & Templeton Talk Privatization, SOE Reform

Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) — Uzbekistan's senior economic officials held talks with the chief investment officer of Templeton Global Investments on Tuesday, as the country moves to inject international institutional expertise into its accelerating privatization drive.

The meeting brought together Templeton Global Investments CIO Manraj Sekhon and Central Asia CEO Marius Dan with Presidential Economic Policy Adviser Obid Khakimov and Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance Jamshid Kuchkarov. Deputy Minister of Economy and Finance Khurshed Mustafaev also attended alongside other representatives from both sides.

Discussions centered on state asset management, speeding up privatization processes, and the broader transformation of state-owned enterprises — three pillars of Uzbekistan's ongoing effort to reorient its heavily state-directed economy toward market-based structures.

The talks gave particular attention to introducing modern market mechanisms and improving corporate operational efficiency, alongside the financial strengthening of state enterprises, corporate governance upgrades, and a phased pathway for companies to access capital markets.

Both parties underscored the value of international experience in navigating SOE reform, stressing that engagement with institutional investors — and improvements in transparency and accountability — are essential to credibly restructuring large state-owned companies.

The Templeton delegation's involvement is notable given Franklin Templeton's seat as a working group co-chair within Uzbekistan's Foreign Investor Council, which held its latest session just this week under President Shavkat Mirziyoyev. The council identified corporate governance and capital market development as two of its seven priority tracks for the coming period.

The two sides agreed to continue cooperation and deepen dialogue on state asset transformation and investment mechanism development — language that suggests a more structured engagement between Tashkent and one of the world's largest asset managers may be in the works.