Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- On 11 July, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev chaired a videoconference on further expanding investment attraction.

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 rallied our people on the path 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 and 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 highly paid jobs, increase the production of products that can compete in the world market. This requires new technologies, modern production facilities, qualified specialists, the President said.

In this regard, the meeting discussed the investment performance of industries and regions, the implementation of projects and priority tasks for the period until the end of the year.

In the last six months of this year, US$3.6 billion of investments were disbursed in the industries. More than US$50 million of direct investment was attracted to the city of Andijan, Bulakbashi, Romitan, Gallyaaral, Farish, Karmana, Davlatabad, Chust, Kattakurgan, Syrdarya districts. Due to this, a total of 50,000 new jobs and sources of income for an additional 1 trillion soums were created in these areas.

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 regions and cities, deputy ministers, responsible persons of state enterprises were relieved of their positions, and some of them received a reprimand.

The President set additional tasks to accelerate 1.5 thousand investment projects and develop more than US$12 billion in foreign investment.

The head of state outlined a clear algorithm for attracting investments and implementing projects in every industry and region.

In particular, within the framework of the state investment program, project work will be organized for the early commissioning of 272 large facilities worth US$11.5 billion. For example, 29 projects can be launched earlier by accelerating construction, and 49 by assisting in the delivery and installation of equipment. Due to this, 700 million dollars of investments will be disbursed 2-3 months earlier.

In this regard, instructions were given to the Minister of Transport and the ambassadors of our country abroad. It was noted that in addition to 1.2 trillion soums provided for infrastructure projects in the regions, another 100 million dollars will be allocated.

It is necessary to master US$4.4 billion of foreign direct investment within 230 projects in industries, another US$4.6 billion - within 1.2 thousand projects in the regions. Projects will be divided into 3 categories and considered individually. Thus, large projects will be supervised by the deputy khokim of the region for investments, medium projects - by the khokim of the district, small ones - by the deputy khokim of the district for investments. Responsible persons will be assigned to each region to effectively implement this system and resolve issues on the spot.

The meeting also considered the results of investment partnerships with foreign countries. Over the past two years, as a result of high-level meetings, many agreements have been reached with Saudi Arabia, France, Hungary, Singapore, Egypt, Germany, China, Italy, Qatar and other countries.

Positive shifts were noted in cooperation with Hungary, Pakistan, Thailand, the Czech Republic and Japan, and attracting investments from these countries this year increased by US$450 million.

From now on, a new system of work with investors will be introduced within the framework of agreements with foreign partners. Thus, the position of an investment manager will be introduced in the Ministry of Investments, Industry and Trade, 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, this year it is possible to attract an additional 3 billion dollars of investments, 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 possibilities. In particular, over the past two months, opportunities for 2,000 promising projects worth US$6.5 billion have been found in 60 areas with a low level of industrial development. This means an average of US$110 million in investment and hundreds of jobs in a single area.

With this in mind, the task was 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 before 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 US$6.7 billion, produce goods worth US$3 billion, and create more than 27,000 jobs.

The government commission was instructed to launch these projects as soon as possible and use foreign loans effectively.

Deputy Prime Ministers, ministers and khokims provided information on the issues discussed at the meeting.