A Memorandum of Understanding between the Ministry of Energy of the Republic of Uzbekistan and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) was signed in Tashkent on 27 February 2019 to cooperate to support the energy sector of Uzbekistan.
The document was signed by Alisher Sultanov, Minister of Energy of Uzbekistan, and Javier Piedra, USAID Deputy Administrator Assistant.
The partnership of the parties, according to the memorandum, is aimed at implementing projects to improve energy efficiency, the use of renewable energy and Uzbekistan’s participation in the Central Asian energy market.
An example of successful investment cooperation between the two countries are jointly implemented projects, such as “Energy of the Future”, “Energy Connections”, “Regional Electricity Market in Central Asia”, which is relevant today, working to create a unified electricity network in the region, a single market energy resources.
In recent years, Uzbekistan has been actively involved in the development of the regional electricity market in Central Asia. The country is successfully importing electricity from Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan, as well as exporting electricity to Afghanistan. A project is being completed aimed at ensuring the parallel operation of the power systems of Uzbekistan and Tajikistan.
Javier Piedra noted that the work under CAREM is designed to ensure conditions of access to a reliable and affordable source of electricity for the countries of the region of Central Asia, and in particular, Uzbekistan.
“Within its framework, USAID also plans to introduce the necessary measures and carry out activities that will attract investments in your country. In this joint work we will focus on clean energy, job creation, and the sustainable development of the energy system for the people of Uzbekistan. This will lead to an efficient distribution of energy and also, to a large extent, to the solution of environmental issues, which we also pay special attention to,” said Javier Piedra.
The signed Memorandum will be the beginning of close cooperation in the implementation of the CAREM project – the “Central Asian Regional Electricity Market”, aimed at supporting five countries of the region in creating a new, economically viable, integrated electric power market.
