The event was a result of synergy among the Center of Economic Research, Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and UNDP “Business Forum of Uzbekistan” Project.

The main goal of the workshop is to increase analytical capacity of the Chamber of Commerce and the Expert group in the field of reviewing and monitoring business legislation, analyzing the business climate and environment, as well as improve skills and knowledge of participants in methodology and practical calculation the Business Climate Index (BCI) and Business Environment Index of Uzbekistan.

Workshop participants had an opportunity to discuss the current problems in conducting surveys and calculations, as well as analyzing their results. The most important feature of the workshop - its analytical part, where participants directly analyzed results of the recent BCI surveys; as well as its practical session, based on solving real examples taken from regional business practices.

As BCI project Research Coordinator Orzimurad Gaybullaev emphasized, "The main purpose of calculating the BCI - an assessment of the current business "mood", its current condition and development trends and, of course, forecasts. Moreover, the BEI shows the “real temperature” of the business environment in which they operate."

BCI and BEI project is a joint initiative of Center for Economic Research and Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Uzbekistan aimed at elaborating a toolkit for assessment and short-term forecasting of business activity and environment. The BC Index is calculated on the quarterly basis starting from July 2009.

The calculations base on the survey of 700 enterprises’ managers from all 14 regions of Uzbekistan, and cover 6 main sectors of economy – 1) industry, 2) agriculture, 3) construction, 4) transport and communications, 5) trade and catering and 6) service sector. The Business Environment Index was launched from April 2011.