European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) President Suma Chakrabarti is visiting Uzbekistan on 31 July and 1 August to meet with the country’s President Shavkat Mirziyoyev as well as with Deputy Prime Ministers Sukhrob Kholmuradov, Alisher Sultanov and Jamshid Kuchkarov, the Bank said.
During the visit President Chakrabarti will sign several loan agreements with private sector companies. He will also sign memoranda of understanding with the government of Uzbekistan aimed at supporting energy and energy efficiency-related investments, privatisation and capital market development.
President Chakrabarti said: “We welcome the efforts of the Uzbek authorities to liberalise the economy and advance political reforms, which are opening the country to its neighbours and the international community. We also hope that the role of civil society in the country will grow.”
The visit will assist in preparation of the Bank’s new medium-term strategy for Uzbekistan, which will aim to support new EBRD investments in the country and key reform efforts by the government. Following the launch of a broad reform programme in Uzbekistan, the EBRD took its engagement with this Central Asian country to a new level and reopened its resident office in Tashkent in November 2017.
The EBRD is the largest institutional investor in Central Asia, with close to €11.6 billion (US$ 12.3 billion equivalent) committed to projects in a variety of sectors, from infrastructure to agriculture, with a focus on private sector development.
Between 1992 and 2010, the EBRD invested €894 million in Uzbekistan in 54 projects. By the end of 2017, the Bank had signed its first six new operations in the country since 2010, for a total of over €153 million.
