Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- In order to work to promote economic diplomacy, the Embassy of the Republic of Uzbekistan in Japan held talks with the executive director, president and chairman of the holding company SBI Holdings, Inc. Yoshitaka Kitao.

Holding company SBI Holdings, Inc. was founded in 1999 and was originally part of the Softbank Corporation group. SBI Holdings, Inc. is a group of companies providing financial services in a wide range of categories, including securities, asset management, banking and insurance. The holding company includes 554 group companies and operates in 25 countries and has 17,496 employees. The company has a turnover of about US$6 billion. The group also has a biotechnology business that develops cosmetics, health food and pharmaceuticals. In addition, the group operates the SBI Graduate School, a business school. SBI Holdings, Inc. listed on the first section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange and the Osaka Stock Exchange.

Yoshitaka Kitao got acquainted with the current economic situation in the country, the progress made in recent years on the liberalization of the foreign exchange market, ongoing reforms in the banking sector, in particular the introduction of KPI for the activities of commercial banks, the transformation of commercial banks. The issues of development of the financial and banking sector, the insurance services market in the republic, the dynamics and structure of GDP and basic industrial sectors of Uzbekistan, the development of information and communication technologies, the Internet and online banking systems were discussed.

In addition, during the negotiations, the main directions of development in the banking and financial sector, provided for in the Strategy of New Uzbekistan for 2022-2026, determined by the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan, were announced to increase the share of the private sector in the banking system to 60%, to bring the volume of the stock market to US$7 billion, reducing income tax in the banking and financial sectors to 15%, placing shares of National Bank of Uzbekistan, Agrobank, Microcreditbank, Khalq bank, Qishloq Qurilish Bank through the stock exchange.

The sides also drew special attention to the fact that, according to the new strategy, in 2023, about a thousand state-owned enterprises will be put up for sale, as well as 10 largest companies and commercial banks in the country will be put up for open primary trading in shares (IPO).

During the meeting, issues of possible cooperation of SBI Holdings, Inc. were discussed in Uzbekistan, in terms of supporting start-up projects using information and communication technologies in the financial sector, providing online banking services.