On June 30, the Deputy Prime Minister/Minister of Investment and Foreign Trade of Uzbekistan Sardor Umurzakov hosted the Executive Director of the United States International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) Adam Boehler and discussed prospects of cooperation as part of strengthened Uzbek-US ties.
The American partners were invited to review a package of 27 concrete investment projects in agriculture, light industry, pharmaceuticals and production of building materials, the Ministry said.
The American side expressed readiness to consider opportunities for participation in public-private partnership projects in the fields of solar and wind energy, as well as the transport sector.
The parties also discussed the potential for involving DFC in lending to private investors for the privatization of large state-owned enterprises and banks in Uzbekistan.
The sides also discussed the possibility of creating a joint investment fund with equity participation of the DFC corporation and the government of Uzbekistan with the prospect of attracting also the governments of other countries of Central Asia and Afghanistan. The objective of the fund will be the implementation of regional projects in the fields of energy, infrastructure, education, healthcare, as well as initiatives aimed at supporting women's entrepreneurship and job creation.
Issues of the development of economic cooperation in the region were also touched upon: the importance of further cooperation in order to organize effective logistics routes and expand transnational railway infrastructure for connecting with large transport hubs of international importance was noted.
The parties reached an agreement was reached on the creation of a joint working group for properly preparing of deals and advance new areas of partnership.
