TASHKENT, 10 October 2024 – More than 80 Uzbek government officials and international partners met this week in Tashkent for the third meeting of the Uzbekistan Country Platform. The meeting served as an opportunity to discuss the progress completed by three Working Groups covering critical areas for Uzbekistan’s development: water resources and supply, and sanitation; transport; urban and rural development.
The Water Resources, Water Supply and Sanitation Working Group demonstrated the results of fostering the integrated water resources management principles and shared further plans to provide communities across Uzbekistan with access to safe and adequate drinking water and sanitation services for ensuring health security.
The Transport Working Group highlighted progress made on provision of safe and high-quality transport services to passengers across the country, concentrating on the transition towards efficient and environmentally friendly types of transport. The Transport experts from the Uzbek government and international organisations also noted investments underway to construct infrastructure that meets global standards, as well as the importance of the new Railroad Transportation Law approved by the Senate recently.
Finally, the Working Group on Urban and Rural Development presented some of the recent reforms, including the adoption of the new Urban Planning Code and the development of numerous planning documents for urban and rural settlements.
The Country Platform is chaired by the Agency for Strategic Reforms under the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan and the Ministry of Economy and Finance of Uzbekistan. By bringing together all the major stakeholders, the Country Platform helps ensure technical and financial assistance is directed efficiently towards the objectives of the 2030 Strategy. Mr. Abdulla Abdukadirov, First Deputy Director of the Agency for Strategic Reforms, noted “Effective cooperation between development partners and the government is crucial for realizing the key reform priorities set forth by H.E. President Mirziyoyev, aimed at building a more prosperous and sustainable future for everyone. The Agency for Strategic Reforms plays a central role in coordinating the interactions between IFIs and ministries, agencies and development partners, ensuring the successful execution of the road map approved under Presidential Decree No. 109, while also enhancing transparency and accountability in public administration.”
The European Union (EU) is the lead international partner providing the secretarial support to the Country Platform until the end of 2025. H.E. Toivo Klaar, Ambassador of the European Union to Uzbekistan, emphasized that “through technical assistance, provision of grants and support to the Country Platform, the EU helps advance the government’s ambitious reform agenda. More exchanges between the government and development partners lead to achieving the expected results more efficiently and timely.”
The participants of the Country Platform agreed to continue collaborating through 13 sectoral working groups supporting the priorities of the 2030 Strategy, such as agriculture, energy security, and rule of law, with the objective of advancing reforms for the benefit of people of Uzbekistan.