Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- President Shavkat Mirziyoyev got acquainted with a presentation on the activities of Asakabank and the Business Development Bank to attract investments and support small and medium-sized businesses on 29 May.

There is high investment activity in our country, and many economic projects are being implemented. Accordingly, banks are increasingly involved in these processes.

The plans of Asakabank and the Business Development Bank for the current year were discussed at the presentation.

In particular, Asakabank plans to raise and fully utilize US$2.1 billion for projects this year. The bank has formed projects worth US$3 billion in the pharmaceutical and automotive industries.

Also, with the participation of Asakabank, it is planned to involve 285 thousand people in entrepreneurship, supporting their business initiatives.

According to a presentation from the Business Development Bank, a total of US$1.5 billion will be raised in 2024 for entrepreneurial support programs and investment projects. Of this, US$225 million will be raised from international financial institutions. By using these funds, more than 47 thousand micro-projects will be implemented by the end of the year.

Also, by financing business ideas of the population, it is planned to organize the activities of 380 thousand self-employed and individual entrepreneurs. The bank’s training programs will cover more than 70 thousand people.

Thanks to the active foreign policy of our state, numerous agreements have been reached with partner countries and international structures. In particular, with the participation of Asakabank, 87 investment projects worth US$772 million will be implemented, and the Business Development Bank - 45 projects worth US$485 million.

The presentation also provides information on the progress of these important projects. The President emphasized that banks should serve as a support for their clients and help at every stage of project implementation.

The head of our state emphasized that banks must work specifically with all clients and provide assistance at every stage of the project, which should result in the creation of new jobs and poverty reduction in mahallas.

It was noted that it is necessary to organize the work of banks in a new way, so that they become not just centers for providing loans, but also modern investment and commercial structures that implement promising projects and sell them to entrepreneurs in the form of a ready-made business.

The presentation also addressed issues of digitalization of processes for supporting small and medium-sized businesses, increasing their transparency, introducing modern software solutions and innovations.