Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- The state visit of the President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev to Singapore this week was the first in the new year 2023, and turned out to be, without exaggeration, very fruitful.

The head of state, together with the accompanying delegation, returned with a solid package of signed documents covering six major areas. One of the priorities was the attraction of "green" technologies of Singapore, the interest in which has increased significantly in the last decade.

Today, Singapore is called the most successful and young sovereign state of Southeast Asia. With a high rate of economic development, the country is actively investing in its future.

Given Singapore’s susceptibility to the impacts of climate change through heat stress, heavy rainfall and the risk of flooding due to gradual sea level rise, the country is implementing a wide range of measures to prepare for predicted climate impacts through the introduction of green technologies.

Thus, Singapore has identified the clean energy industry as a strategic one. To achieve this goal, the Green Plan 2030 was launched in 2021, under which Singapore has provided investment in high-value production and design, research and development in the clean technology sector.

Uzbekistan is also implementing large-scale reforms in the development of renewable energy sources (RES). In particular, the National Research Institute of RES was established in 2021, and the National Strategy for the Development of Renewable and Hydrogen Energy is being developed. In addition, in the Development Strategy of New Uzbekistan for 2022-2026, special attention is paid to the intensive development of hydrogen energy.

It should be noted that Singapore is in many ways similar to Uzbekistan. The geographic features of both countries preclude the use of geothermal energy, and Singapore’s tidal ranges are too small for commercial tidal energy production. At the same time, the high average annual radiation in the countries has made solar energy the most attractive RES option.

Taking into account such active and effective measures of Singapore, as well as realizing the unique opportunities for Uzbekistan, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev determined the appointment of "clean" technologies as one of the promising areas of bilateral cooperation.

Thus, today one of the world’s largest floating solar energy centers operates in Singapore, an initiative is being implemented to install solar panels on infrastructure facilities, the production of systems and services in the renewable energy sector has been established at a high level, and the International Energy Week is held annually with the participation of developed countries of the world.

Thus, there are a number of promising areas in the field of introducing "green" technologies, in which the two countries can establish close cooperation.

It is obvious that Uzbekistan does not intend to stay away from the current global trends in the use of clean energy, making a worthy contribution to the international community’s fight against climate change.

This, in turn, testifies to the formation of the process of effective transition of Uzbekistan to a new level of development and a prosperous healthy future. In this context, cooperation with Singapore will remain one of the highest priorities.

Kamila Sobirova,

Leading Researcher, ISMI

under the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan