Fruit and vegetable production and closely related fields are one of the most important spheres in the economy of the Bukhara region. The Bukhara region is considered to be one of the country’s highly productive regions in producing fruits and vegetables. According to the statistics, in 2008 the productivity of potatoes was 233.3 centners per hectare and fruit and berries was 136.0 centners per hectare. However, the level of production and processing of fruits and vegetables in the Bukhara region still remains low. The level of fruit and vegetable production, potatoes, water melons and grapes in the region in 2008 was equal to 648,000 tonnes and is forecast to reach 704.5 thousand tonnes in 2009. Only about 5% to 19% of fruit and vegetables are processed in Bukhara.

The reason for this is that the available conditions and possibilities of developing fruit and vegetable production are not used to the fullest capacity. Besides, there is a number of important issues that producers of fruit and vegetables have to tackle. Such issues as financing the activities of the private business in the sphere of fruit and vegetable production and processing, importing technological fruit and vegetable processing equipment, providing raw materials, taxation and customs procedures during exporting of fruit and vegetable products need to be discussed by the government and the private sector in order to be solved.

The practical seminar, organized by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Republic of Uzbekistan, the hokimiyat of the Bukhara region and a UNDP project “Business Forum of Uzbekistan”, was dedicated to the issues of developing the fruit and vegetable production sphere in the region towards finding solutions for important issues in the sphere of production, processing and sale of agricultural products. The aim of the event was also to increase the knowledge of the private sector representatives regarding the activities of the government and commercial structures, which are aimed at assisting the private sector.

Managers of enterprises, organizations and farmers of the Bukhara region, representatives of government organizations and the local administration and other interested agencies in this sphere participated in this event. Moreover, in order to ensure effective dialogue between stakeholders, specialists in the spheres of enterprise development, attracting financial resources, taxation and customs also attended the seminar.

The event was held in an interactive mode and such methods as brain storming, analyzing particular situations, working in small groups were used. That helped to ensure active participation of entrepreneurs in finding effective solutions to important problems in the field. The distinctive feature of this seminar was that the participants had an opportunity to formulate and present their own solutions about specific important issues.

During the seminar the representatives of the “Business Forum Project” made presentations on the topics “Business Facilitation Centers” and “Growing Sustainable Business”, that are new initiatives of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Republic of Uzbekistan aimed at providing practical assistance to the private sector.

The organizers hope that this seminar will help find solutions to the important issues of conducting entrepreneurial activities, improving legislation in the sphere of production and processing of fruit and vegetable products and also to give practical recommendations for further developing the field.