Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- On 14 February this year, Deputy Prime Minister - Minister of Investments and Foreign Trade of the Republic of Uzbekistan Sardor Umurzakov held talks via videoconference with President of the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) Muhammad Sulaiman al-Jassir.

The talks were devoted to discussing the current state and prospects for expanding mutually beneficial cooperation. The active nature of the expansion of the IsDB’s activities in Uzbekistan, observed in recent years, was noted. As of the current moment, the investment portfolio of the IsDB in Uzbekistan includes 29 projects with a total value of US$1.8 billion, of which 21 projects worth US$996 million have already been implemented, and 8 projects worth US$825 million are under implementation.

The parties discussed measures to accelerate the implementation of ongoing projects and outlined further steps to consider new projects in the areas of infrastructure development, education and business support, which are expected to be approved by the IsDB this year.

The head of the IsDB welcomed the adoption of the new Development Strategy of Uzbekistan for 2022-2026, emphasizing the relevance of the priorities outlined in it, and expressed his readiness to contribute to the practical implementation of the Strategy and further promotion of socio-economic reforms in Uzbekistan.

The tasks of organizing the activities of the Fund for the expansion of economic opportunities are considered. It was announced that in January of this year, the IsDB held a road show to attract private investors to participate in the activities of the Fund. The parties expressed their commitment to active work to accelerate the resolution of organizational and financial issues in order to launch the Fund’s activities in the second quarter of this year.

An agreement was reached on the joint development of a new Partnership Cooperation Program with the IsDB for 2023-2025. The parties exchanged views on priority areas of interaction, among which were the increase in employment and skills of the population, the empowerment of women in the regions and rural areas, the promotion of youth entrepreneurship and support for start-ups, the modernization of water supply, sewerage, utilities and transport infrastructure. The relevance of improving the education system through the use of the new SmartED financing mechanism, created by the ISDB in cooperation with the Arab Coordination Group, was also emphasized.

The SmartEd program, which costs US$500 million, includes a US$100 million grant funding package allocated by the Global Education Partnership financial platform, as well as a concessional funding package and is aimed at supporting educational projects in countries -ISDB members.

The leadership of the IsDB also expressed its readiness to consider the possibility of expanding support for small businesses and entrepreneurship in Uzbekistan through the use of trade finance instruments and other financial instruments of cooperation with the country’s commercial banks.

The Uzbek side welcomed the new joint initiative of the IsDB and the Arab Petroleum Investment Corporation (APICORP) "Infra Initiative", focused on financing projects in the fields of alternative energy, infrastructure construction, water management and waste disposal, including by attracting private companies and investors for this in the member countries of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).

The prospects for allocation of additional resources by the IsDB for the implementation of a program for the reconstruction of 400 schools in the regions of Uzbekistan in order to improve the quality of education for the population living in densely populated, rural and remote areas were discussed.

The Uzbek side also expressed support for the IsDB’s initiative to provide technical assistance in improving the operational capacity and efficiency of individual border crossing points, as well as improving the system of overall road safety management in Uzbekistan. 

An agreement was reached to send an expert group to Uzbekistan to analyze the current state of this area and develop proposals for the introduction of advanced innovative developments and practices in this area.

The President of the IsDB was thanked for the allocation of grant funding for the creation of an intellectual lecture hall at the International Islamic Academy of Uzbekistan. Other areas of bilateral cooperation and implementation of joint projects were also discussed, including through the use of the resources of the Transformation Fund and the IsDB Interaction Platform.

As a result of the meeting, further actions were outlined to implement the discussed initiatives and the agreements reached.