On July 11, a videoconference was held under the chairmanship of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev on the issues of further expanding the attraction of investments.
At the beginning of his speech, the head of state noted that the presidential elections in our country were held at a high level, which further united our people on the way to great goals.
The next task is to implement the set goals without delay and with even greater zeal. This will not be easy in the current era of conflicts and fierce competition, when trade and investment flows are becoming more complicated, there are disruptions in the movement of goods and services, in the transport and logistics system.
– In such a difficult situation, in order to create decent conditions for our people, we need to create hundreds of thousands of high-paying jobs, increase production of products capable of competing on the world market. This requires new technologies, modern production facilities, qualified specialists,” the President said.
In this regard, the meeting discussed investment indicators of industries and regions, the implementation of projects and priorities for the period up to the end of the year.
Over the last six months of this year, 3.6 billion dollars of investments were spent in the industries. More than $50 million of direct investments were attracted to the city of Andijan, Bulakbashinsky, Romitan, Gallyaralsky, Farishsky, Karmaninsky, Davlatabad, Chust, Kattakurgan, Syrdarya districts. Due to this, a total of 50 thousand new jobs have been created in these areas and sources of income for an additional 1 trillion soums.
But in some regions and industries this indicator is low, the investment climate is in an unsatisfactory state. At the meeting, the khokims of these districts and cities, deputy ministers, responsible persons of state-owned enterprises were dismissed from their posts, and some of them were reprimanded.
The President set additional tasks to accelerate 1.5 thousand investment projects and develop more than $ 12 billion of foreign investments.
The Head of State outlined a clear algorithm of actions to attract investments and implement projects in each industry and region.
In particular, within the framework of the state investment program, project-by-project work will be organized for the early commissioning of 272 large facilities worth $ 11.5 billion. For example, 29 projects can be launched earlier, speeding up construction, and 49 — by assisting in the delivery and installation of equipment. Due to this, $700 million of investments will be disbursed 2-3 months earlier.
In this regard, instructions were given to the Minister of Transport and ambassadors of our country abroad. It was noted that in addition to the 1.2 trillion soums provided for infrastructure projects in the regions, another $ 100 million will be allocated.
It is necessary to master 4.4 billion dollars of foreign direct investment in the framework of 230 projects in industries, another 4.6 billion dollars – in the framework of 1.2 thousand projects in the regions. The projects will be divided into 3 categories and considered individually. So, large projects will be supervised by the deputy governor of the region for investments, medium—sized — the district governor, small – the deputy governor of the district for investments. Responsible persons will be assigned to each region for the effective implementation of this system and solving issues on the spot.
The meeting also considered the results of investment partnership with foreign countries. Over the past two years, as a result of the summit meetings, many agreements have been reached with Saudi Arabia, France, Hungary, Singapore, Egypt, Germany, China, Italy, Qatar and other countries.
Positive developments were noted in cooperation with Hungary, Pakistan, Thailand, the Czech Republic and Japan, and the attraction of investments from these countries increased by $450 million this year.
From now on, a new system of working with investors will be introduced within the framework of agreements with foreign partners. Thus, the Ministry of Investment, Industry and Trade will introduce the position of investment manager, who will report directly to the Minister. Managers will maintain constant contact with foreign investors and resolve their issues. Working on the basis of this system, an additional $ 3 billion of investments can be attracted this year, it was noted at the meeting.
It is indicated that the investment projects formed in most regions, districts and cities do not correspond to their real capabilities. In particular, over the past two months, opportunities for 2,000 promising projects worth $6.5 billion have been found in 60 districts with a low level of industrial development. This means an average of $110 million in investments and hundreds of jobs in one area.
With this in mind, the task has been set together with consulting companies to form new projects on the principle of “research – development – implementation”. To present them to foreign investors, a regional investment forum will be held in each region by the end of the year.
The government commission has also prepared 97 large-scale industrial projects that will give a big boost to the economy. Within their framework, it will be possible to master $ 6.7 billion, produce products worth $ 3 billion, create more than 27 thousand jobs.
The Government Commission has been instructed to launch these projects as soon as possible and effectively use foreign loans.
Deputy Prime Ministers, Ministers and Khokims provided information on the issues discussed at the meeting.