Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- From 24 to 29 September 2023, Abdihamid Abu, general manager for trade finance of the International Islamic Trade and Finance Corporation (ITFC), visited our country on a business visit.

During the visit, a number of meetings were held with the corporation’s partners in Uzbekistan, the topic of which was the further deepening of cooperation and the allocation of new financial resources from ITFC in order to promote the development of trade, food security and support for private entrepreneurship in the country.

One of the long-standing and reliable partners of ITFC in Uzbekistan is the State Support Fund for Agriculture under the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Uzbekistan. During the visit, Abdihamid Abu met with the Director of the Fund, Abdurashid Isroilov. Other representatives of the above organizations also took part in the meeting.

It must be said that fruitful cooperation has been established between the foundation and the corporation. From 2019 to date, ITFC has already allocated US$200 million to the Fund through the government of Uzbekistan. All these funds are aimed at ensuring food security and supporting agriculture in the country.

The meeting participants discussed key issues of further cooperation, the situation on the country’s agricultural market, in particular those related to such strategically important goods as wheat and cotton.

“Supporting agriculture and food security in general is one of the key pillars of ITFC because these areas are directly related and affect the lives of ordinary people,” says Abdihamid Abu, ITFC general manager for trade finance.

The State Support Fund for Agriculture is one of our close partners in this direction. ITFC has been collaborating with the Foundation since 2019, and we are very pleased with this partnership. Thanks to this cooperation, prices for such strategically important raw materials as wheat are maintained in the republic. With funds allocated by ITFC, the Fund purchases wheat from farmers and in case of instability of supplies and increased grain prices, wheat previously purchased by the Fund from producer farmers is released onto the market. This, in particular, makes it possible to stabilize prices and ensure food security in the country. Last year we provided US$100 million in funding to the Fund. This year we intend to provide the same amount.

ITFC began its activities in Uzbekistan in 2018 with a pilot Financing Line in favor of one bank. In 2019, ITFC signed a Framework Agreement worth US$500 million for a period of 4 years.

As of 1 January 2023, the total funding provided to the government is US$200 million. Government funds were used to purchase raw materials for the production of cotton and wheat (2019-2020), as well as wheat (2022).

In addition, opportunities provided to local banks help meet the import and pre-export trade financing needs of small and medium-sized businesses. Through a range of financial facilities provided to banks, ITFC also supports women entrepreneurship. In total, the financial resources allocated by ITFC for the public and private sectors of the country amount to US$538 million.