Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- On 17 May, President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev took part in the 32nd annual meeting of the Board of Governors of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, held in the city of Samarkand.

The head of our state spoke at the plenary session of the meeting.

“This year, the annual meeting of the Board of Governors of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development is being held in ancient, unique Samarkand, and we perceive this as a manifestation of high respect and trust in our country and reforms,” Shavkat Mirziyoyev said.

The EBRD meeting in a similar format was held in Uzbekistan exactly 20 years ago. Over the past period, fundamental changes have taken place in Uzbekistan, economic liberalization has been carried out, large-scale transformations have been initiated and are being consistently implemented in all areas.

In the implementation of this reform program, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development is one of Uzbekistan’s strategic partners. The bank’s portfolio of projects in the country exceeded 4 billion euros, of which projects worth 3.3 billion euros were launched over the past four years.

According to the results of last year, Uzbekistan entered the top five of the bank’s main partners. And in terms of annual investments, it has become its largest business partner in Central Asia.

The head of our state outlined important areas of cooperation with international financial institutions, including the EBRD.

We are talking about supporting privatization and creating broad conditions for the private sector, expanding public-private partnership projects in areas under the jurisdiction of the state, such as infrastructure, medicine, education, transport, ecology, accelerated development of the "green" economy, especially the "green » energy, further support for women’s entrepreneurship, the introduction of advanced agricultural technologies, water conservation and food security.

The President of Uzbekistan noted that new projects and programs will be implemented in these areas together with the bank. He also invited the bank to take part in regional cooperation projects with neighboring countries.

“Today’s international forum creates a historic opportunity to raise cooperation between the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and our country to a new, even higher level,” Shavkat Mirziyoyev concluded.

Within the framework of the meeting, an investment presentation of Uzbekistan was held, which demonstrated great opportunities for doing business in our country. In addition, during the sessions of the event, more than 40 large PPP projects in the field of healthcare, education, infrastructure, transport and energy will be presented to the attention of the participants.

The Samarkand summit of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development will end its work on 18 May 2023.