TASHKENT (WNAMREPORT): President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev on Thursday said that Uzbekistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan railway line have been started, which will lead to economic integration in the region. Investors in the world, before investing in a country, must ask this question, how you have relations with neighboring countries, so it is necessary to have good relations with neighboring countries, including countries in the region, President of the of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev said this while addressing at the ‘Third Tashkent International Investment Forum’, held in Tashkent Uzbekistan.
“We have started initial work on the construction of railways China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan and Uzbekistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan with our foreign partners” the President said. Shavkat Mirziyoyev said these strategic projects on reginal connectivity, “We will fundamentally change the geo-economy of the region and will transform Central Asia into the global transit center that connects North and South, East and West.” “We invite investors and international organizations to participate in these major regional projects to revive the ‘Great Silk Road on modern foundations.” For the development of transport infrastructure, Uzbekistan government pay special attention to creating convenient and modern transport systems, he said. Uzbek President said that substantial reforms are being made in the railway sector with opening wide opportunities for private investors and the joint projects are being developed to build toll roads and high-speed railways. He said that efforts are being made to modernize Tashkent, Bukhara and Urgench international airports, and build new ones with the participation of qualified foreign investors. He said the Investments are the engine of our country’s transformation and the strongest driver of our economic development. President, Shavkat Mirziyoyev said the ‘New Uzbekistan’ is a rapidly developing, just and secular country with vast opportunities and “Our hardworking and talented people are the main source of inspiration for us to pursue every day our ideas and dreams.” “By 2030, our goal is to double the people’s income and join the ranks of the upper-middle income countries, we will continue with deep transformation processes in the economy, creating favorable investment and business environments, and increasing value-added production in industry” the President said. It is important to emphasize that the investors gathered here today with their most innovative technologies and practices, new proposals and initiatives stimulate us to move forward.
He said that over the past three years, this Forum has provided a broad platform for enhancing collaboration, discussing pressing issues, and generating fruitful ideas and solutions to tackle the most urgent challenges. The fact that more than two and a half thousand foreign guests from 93 countries are attending the event today clearly confirms the growing importance of the Forum. This is a sign of a huge interest in reforms that have become irreversible in our country, in establishing mutually beneficial cooperation. He said that this conference is taking place in period of increasing global geopolitical and economic problems, challenges and threats to the sustainable development and the world order is undergoing deep transformation. The President said that no country can solve such economic problems alone and the spirit of mutual trust and respect, and the principle of mutual support remain solid pillars of long-term cooperation. In our country,” we have taken decisive steps to fundamentally improve the investment and business environment, and to eliminate obstacles step by step and in this regard, Uzbek government implementing comprehensive reforms to ensure that every entrepreneur feels free and confident.” The Uzbekistan government has identified the liberalization of the economy, the creation of a favorable investment climate, and the broadening of opportunities for entrepreneurs as our main objectives, he said. Shavkat Mirziyoyev in recent years, our economy has nearly doubled and Last year alone, growth rates reached 6 percent, while inflation remained below 9 percent as well the trade turnover is steadily increasing. He said the stability of the national currency and foreign exchange reserves are being maintained. In the past few years, we have attracted over $60 billion in foreign investments and more than $14 billion from international financial institutions have been directed to social and infrastructure projects, he said.
The volume of foreign investments nearly doubled last year, he said. “We have developed specific measures in other priority areas to support entrepreneurship and business and foreign investors will be exempted from taxes on dividends received from shares for a period of three years” he said. He said that our government attach great importance to the development of the infrastructure of industrial zones through budgetary allocations and introduced modern transparent mechanisms for allocating land to entrepreneurs, namely through auctions. He said that a visa-free travel regime has been introduced for more than 90 countries. “Our main goal is to make Uzbekistan a reliable and long-term partner for foreign investors.” In order to strengthen the protection of investors’ rights, I would like to present a number of specific proposals. The government will adopt the new Law “On Investments.” This document has been developed in accordance with the regulations and standards of the World Trade Organization. “We have adopted,’Uzbekistan-2030’ strategy in order to continue systemic reforms, build strong and welfare state.” The Uzbekistan government outlined 100 specific tasks to achieve sustainable economic growth, provide social protection, preserve health, improve education system, as well as to ensure the rule of law. Expanding the energy sector is crucial for the prosperity of our entire region, in this regard, work is underway on 28 projects in our country. By 2030, we aim to create renewable energy capacity exceeding 20 gigawatts and increase its share in the energy balance to 40 percent. Today during the Forum, we are presenting joint projects to build hydroelectric power stations in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan for our investors. We invite the leading companies from all countries to open dialogue and practical cooperation in this direction. He said that Uzbekistan is rich in mineral resources and critical raw materials.
Our country has large reserves of gold, copper, tungsten, silver, and uranium. “We are particularly interested in paying attention to the reserves of rare and rare-earth metals, including lithium, magnesium, molybdenum, germanium, vanadium, and indium, among others” he said. The government aimed to increase this indicator to $5 billion in the future and t0he number of IT park residents will increase tenfold, 100,000 new jobs will be created soon.
