Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev held a meeting on 26 July on implementation of projects involving foreign investments, eliminating shortcomings in this direction and accelerating the development of investment funds.

The meeting was attended by government members, heads of state and economic management bodies, heads of diplomatic missions of Uzbekistan abroad.

In the current year, within the framework of investment and infrastructure projects, it is planned to implement 2,612 investment projects at the expense of all sources and to master a total of over US$6.85 billion.

The meeting criticized the unsatisfactory state of development of these funds and the implementation of projects.

One of the main reasons for this is the unwillingness of industry leaders and enterprises to take responsibility, as well as the practice in which the mastering of the bulk of the funds is postponed at the end of the year. It was noted that credit resources are attracted to fully designed projects with ready documents. Under the pretext of coordinating and controlling the implementation of investment projects, many procedures were unnecessarily complicated, and bureaucratic obstacles arose.

To eliminate such problems, ensure timely and high-quality execution of investment projects, on 16 July the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan adopted a resolution "On measures to improve the efficiency of preparation and implementation of projects involving international financial institutions and foreign government financial organizations." In accordance with it, these projects will be implemented under an entirely new system.

Firstly, the order is defined in which a consolidated list of prospective projects is formed on the basis of proposals of ministries, departments, economic associations, large enterprises and khokimiyats, on the basis of which the State Committee for Investments develops a strategy for cooperation with international financial institutions.

Secondly, the requirement to conduct an examination of the feasibility study of projects in the National Project Management Agency has been canceled, the projects will be examined simultaneously by the State Investment Committee and the Ministry of Finance. As a result, if an average of 60 days was spent on the examination, now it will take 14 days.

At the same time, if the value of contracts is increased in the course of project implementation by 20 percent for specific reasons, changes in the feasibility study will not be made. Previously, this process took at least 3-6 months.

Third, the tender documentation and contracts concluded at the end of the tender will not be examined. From now on the tender documentation will be approved by the procurement commission, and contracts will be registered with the State Committee for Investments.

Previously, under the pretext of not having a quorum, tenders were postponed, the process was braked for months and years. Now this requirement for tender commissions is canceled. In the absence of a quorum for a tender, participation of a representative of the State Committee for Investments and the Design Institute "Uzinzhiniring" is sufficient.

Another loosening of the tenders is the cancellation of the requirement for the number of applicants. Before the tender was not conducted, if at least three applicants submitted documents to the tender. Now the tender will be held even with one bidder, the only requirement is that the documentation meets the requirements of international and foreign financial organizations.

Fourthly, the goods purchased in the framework of projects involving international and foreign financial organizations are exempt from value added tax, customs duties, fees to trust funds, and non-resident individuals are exempt from income and income taxes. Foreign specialists involved in the implementation of projects are exempted from consular fees and state fees for the issuance of visas, registration and their extension.

At the meeting, the State Investment Committee was instructed to accelerate the work on the examination and registration of feasibility studies, tender documentation and import contracts in all projects involving international and foreign financial organizations in a new order.

"From now on, work on the implementation of projects with the participation of international and foreign financial organizations cannot be allowed to run its course. Leaders of all levels will personally answer for each unused dollar. Initiators of projects should also take responsibility for themselves and keep a response for the development, implementation of the project and the final result,” Shavkat Mirziyoyev said.

The meeting stressed the importance of effective organization of activities of project implementation groups.

The State Committee on Investments is instructed to review the composition of all groups and to reorganize them not in the context of projects, but on a sectoral basis. It is pointed out the need to improve the system of remuneration of experts in groups, to attract educated and experienced, honest and professional workers able to qualitatively prepare all documents for the investment project and protect it in authorized bodies.

The task was set from 1 September until the end of the year to raise the qualifications of managers and specialists of project groups, by organizing special training courses, to introduce from 1 January 2019 a system of issuing certificates for employment in groups for the implementation of projects.

The issue of developing investment projects for 2019 was also considered at the video-selector meeting.

Deputy prime ministers, heads of economic associations of Jokarga Kenges of the Republic of Karakalpakstan, regional khokimiyats and the city of Tashkent were instructed to find investors for promising sectoral and territorial investment projects, to develop and approve road maps aimed at accelerating the development of feasibility studies and project implementation.

"We set ourselves very large goals for the implementation of investment projects, including with the participation of direct investment. By presidential decrees, all obstacles on this path have been eliminated. Henceforth, there is no reason for various pretexts," the head of state said.

The meeting also discussed the results of foreign official visits of local khokimiyat leaders. The State Committee for Investments and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was instructed to implement a system of effective monitoring and coordination of the implementation of agreements reached by the delegations of khokimiyats during foreign official trips.

The reports of heads of complexes of the Cabinet of Ministers, ambassadors of our country in foreign countries and hokims were heard. Measures have been defined to accelerate the development of foreign investment and the implementation of projects, the timely commissioning of new capacities.