Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- The panel discussion "New Uzbekistan - new investment prospects", which was held as part of the 32nd Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), ended with the signing of a number of documents.

The event was attended by EBRD President Odile Renaud-Basso, Managing Director for Central Asia Zsuzsanna Hargitai, Director for Uzbekistan Alkis Drakinos and others, Dunyo news agency reported.

During the panel discussion, the participants discussed the expected growth rates of the economy of Uzbekistan and the existing opportunities for attracting investment.

As part of the 2nd day of the forum, an Agreement was signed on the provision of a sovereign loan in the amount of up to US$49 million between the government of Uzbekistan and the EBRD for the introduction of electric buses in Samarkand and an Agreement on the implementation of a combined cycle gas turbine plant project with a total capacity of up to 1600 MW between the Ministry of Investment, Industry and Commerce, the Department of Energy and the TAQA energy company in the amount of US$1.2 billion.

Since the beginning of its activities in Uzbekistan, the Bank has approved financing of 100 projects and programs in various sectors of the economy in the amount of more than 3.4 billion euros (7 projects worth 893 million euros are being developed). Uzbekistan is the largest recipient of EBRD investments among the CIS countries.

EBRD projects are focused on the development of small businesses, the financial sector, transport infrastructure and energy. At the same time, the main amount of funds allocated by the Bank falls on direct investments.