Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- On 14 August, a meeting dedicated to issues of attracting foreign direct investment to the economy of Uzbekistan was held under the chairmanship of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev.

It was attended by the Prime Minister and his deputies, state advisors to the President, heads of ministries and agencies, companies and associations, the Chairman of the Jokargy Kenes of the Republic of Karakalpakstan, khokims of the regions and the city of Tashkent, heads of diplomatic missions of Uzbekistan abroad.

In accordance with the resolution of the Head of the state, a list of 849 projects worth $64 billion with participation of foreign direct investment was formed last month. Of these, 456 projects are scheduled to be implemented in 2018, 125 in 2019, and 268 in subsequent years.

The President emphasized the need for attracting foreign direct investment in the amount of 5 billion 800 million dollars this year.

Not only the leadership of the State Committee for Investments and sectoral departments, but also the Prime Minister and his deputies, ministers, chairmen of committees and state advisors to the President are identified personally responsible for implementation of projects scheduled for the current year to ensure the orderly, disciplined and effective implementation of tasks set in this direction.

Thus, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Uzbekistan, along with overall management of implementation of all investment projects, is responsible for attracting foreign direct investment on 144 projects, the First Deputy Prime Minister on 18 projects.

it was noted that results of activities carried out to attract investment are unsatisfactory. For example, in the city of Tashkent, the rate of activities execution at the expense of foreign direct investment amounts only 7 percent. In terms of regions, for example, in Khorezm region, the cost of projects involving foreign direct investment amounts only $10 million, which is the lowest figure in the country.

At the meeting, managers responsible for various investment projects were defined, the cost and terms of projects were discussed. Reports of responsible persons on the state of attracting foreign direct investment were heard.

Deputy Prime Ministers, khokims and heads of industries were instructed to ensure timely and qualitative implementation of projects with participation of foreign direct investment, to organize new projects. To do this, it is necessary to visit regions, communicate with initiators of projects and identify their problems, implement an automated monitoring system and hold international investment forums at places every week, according to the established schedule.

– Without introduction of an automated system for monitoring the implementation of projects, we will not be able to identify problems in this area in a timely manner. This system should provide practical assistance to foreign investors investing direct investments, facilitate their work, – said Shavkat Mirziyoyev.

In the near future, the International Investment Forum and the National Exhibition of Commodity Producers will be held in Jizzakh region.

The State Committee for Investments, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Foreign Trade, the Chamber of Commerce and the Khokimiyat of the Jizzakh region have been instructed to organize these events at a high level, to prepare and demonstrate special presentations for each sector, industry and region.

At the meeting, attention was paid to the results of foreign official visits of local khokimiyat leaders.

It was noted that according to this task, the working group conducted a study of this work and identified a number of systemic problems in Ferghana, Andijan, Namangan, Khorezm regions and the Republic of Karakalpakstan.

The meeting criticized the fact that, in the presence of broad opportunities in the areas of pharmaceuticals, electrical engineering and engineering, the talks on cooperation were limited only to projects primarily for production of building materials and textiles, processing fruit and vegetables. Projects on high-tech industries are completely absent.

It was pointed out that most delegations had no targeted program, foreigners did not have specific information on economic potential of the regions, individual agreements remained on paper.

For example, a delegation from Namangan region, who visited Belgium in March 2018, signed an agreement on the project of organizing an animal husbandry complex in Naryn district for 200 cattle for US$3 million. However, after 5 months, practical work on implementation of the agreement has not been started.

It was noted that a number of delegations in the course of official trips are chasing the number of contracts, as a result of this the agreements are not aimed at a concrete result, they have an abstract, mostly cultural and humanitarian character.

In this regard, the State Investment Committee and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs need to introduce the procedure for conducting presentations on purposes of visits, proposed projects and expected practical results before foreign delegations of local delegations.

It was entrusted to develop and ensure strict control over the implementation of "road maps" and industry schedules on agreements reached on the basis of official trips.