In recent years, Uzbekistan has experienced a surge in foreign investment, driven by extensive government reforms initiated in 2017. The 3rd Tashkent International Investment Forum showcased the country's appeal to investors, with participants from over 90 countries discussing business opportunities
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00In recent years, foreign investment in Uzbekistan has multiplied largely due to extensive government
00:08reforms initiated in 2017.
00:11The third Tashkent International Investment Forum highlighted the appetite for investing
00:16in the country.
00:20Participants from over 90 countries discussed business opportunities, engaged in sessions
00:25and held B2B meetings.
00:26Contracts worth $26.6 billion were signed.
00:30Aquapower, having already invested in 15 projects in Uzbekistan, inked a $4.85 billion PPA agreement
00:37for Central Asia's largest wind farm.
00:39This is one of the countries that has embraced decarbonization with the most ambitious and
00:46faster approach that we see in the world.
00:49As an investor, you will never be able to be faster than what the country wants to
00:54do.
00:55And if Uzbekistan today is the second biggest country in our portfolio of 15 countries around
01:01the world, that means that Uzbekistan has embraced this very fast and very ambitiously.
01:19Since 2017, there has been a liberalization of market access in Uzbekistan with the state
01:41actively pursuing new reforms and aiming for accession to the WTO.
01:47The geographics of direct foreign investments of Uzbekistan is, I would say, very diverse.
01:52It covers, I would say, almost the whole map from the United States up to Japan.
01:56When it comes to EU countries, we are, of course, very much interested in attracting
02:01more knowledge-based investments from Europe, investments in the high-tech infrastructure,
02:07in the renewable energies.
02:09European companies are also showing interest in Uzbekistan.
02:13What interested us is the capacity of the country to open the doors to provide investment.
02:19There is a very important energy transition to lead in the country, so our focus will
02:22be more on hydro projects.
02:24We have huge competencies and capabilities and we want to expand in hydro projects.
02:29The World Bank supports the government of Uzbekistan and its economic transformation.
02:34It is a pivotal country in the important region of Central Asia and it has a great growth
02:39potential.
02:40It has a stable government that is committed to reform and it is continuing to liberalize
02:46the investment climate.
02:47Next frontier is going to be tackling state-owned enterprise sector, liberalizing it and privatizing
02:53it and this will create tremendous opportunities for investors.