President of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov stated this at the meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers dedicated to the results of social-economic development of Uzbekistan in 2009 and important priorities of economic programme of 2010.

He added that the volume of attracted foreign investments rose by 68% and main part of them are direct investments, which also increased 1.8 times.

President Karimov said about 690 projects were realized with investment programme and industrial programmes on modernization in 2009, of which 303 projects were successfully implemented.

Overall, 22 large production objects were commissioned in 2009, of which 8 in oil, chemical and metallurgy industries, 9 in machinery and 5 in construction industries.

Islam Karimov said Uzbekistan paid special attention to development of social sphere. He said about US$2.5 billion to this sphere, which makes up 27.8% of total utilized capital investments in 2009.