The Press Club of the Liberal-Democratic Party of Uzbekistan discussed the work done to improve the investment climate.
The event, which took the form of a lively open dialogue, looked at the reforms underway in our country to attract foreign investment, the problems encountered and proposals to address them.
Deputy Director General of the Strategic Development Agency of the Republic of Uzbekistan Aziz Gafurov took part in it.
In particular, when asked about the role of the agency in the work done by the agency in the area of investment in Uzbekistan, he answered as follows.
“The mechanism proposed by the Government for the work of project groups in the regions of the Republic has been carefully developed by the Ministry of Investment and Foreign Trade with the participation of the Agency. The Agency has developed a preliminary working methodology for each project member, ranging from the project teams to the agencies involved in the process. The new mechanism works according to the bottom-up principle.
District and city project teams study and analyse the potential and opportunities of the annexed area and assist local entrepreneurs in preparing project applications to be sent to project offices at the regional level.
The regional project offices collect and analyze all the information received from the districts, consider the possibilities for project applications at regional level, including several (both existing and prospective) projects in terms of potential cooperation, make a selection of priority projects. All information is transmitted to the Central Project Office – Ministry of Investment and Foreign Trade.”
As well as, in the course of the conversation, A. Gafurov, in response to another question from the presenter, expressed the following thoughts.
“The Republican Project Office will identify priority investment projects and form a portfolio of projects throughout the republic. The project office, through its structural units and subordinate agencies, will organise the preparation and finalisation of project documentation, including teasers and business plans, and presentations. The portfolio of developed projects is then handed over to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Uzbek embassies abroad to attract foreign investors, and to district and regional project offices to find and present projects to local investors.
The work of the project teams does not end there – they will be accompanied from the process of implementing the investment projects until certain indicators related to project stability or profitability are achieved. The opportunities to obtain financial assistance from direct investment fund to support investment projects is also worth mentioning.
The new mechanism is already up and running and work is underway to collect data and generate project ideas.”
