Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev held a meeting today on speeding up the implementation of investment projects and work on attracting direct investment.

Investment is the driving force of the economy, its driver. In recent years, all over the world attracting investment from outside has become increasingly difficult. So, in 2018, the global flow of investment declined by 19 percent.

Therefore, it is necessary to effectively use foreign investments that have already been attracted, to establish the correct and systematic work in this direction.

At the video selector meeting held on 8 January, the head of our state identified specific objectives for attracting investment and creating a favorable investment climate. In accordance with them, the Investment Program was approved, indicating the exact sources of financing. In particular, this year it is planned to master foreign direct investment totaling US$4.2 billion.

At today’s meeting, a critical analysis of the work done over the past two months was conducted. The head of state, noting in general the unsatisfactory state of foreign investment, seriously warned those in charge. It was criticized the absence in some industries and regions of proposals based on accurate calculations for foreign investors.

The president has set specific tasks for relevant ministries and khokimiyats. Thus, the Ministry of Investment and Foreign Trade was entrusted to form a portfolio of investment projects with the attraction of foreign direct investment in the energy, oil and gas, chemical industries, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, information technology and other important areas.

It was emphasized that the meetings of intergovernmental commissions did not become an effective platform for the formation of investment projects, in connection with which it is necessary to develop target indicators for attracting direct investments for each commission.

Today in the world one of the important factors of attracting investment is the system of public-private partnership. With this in mind, the Agency for the Development of Public-Private Partnerships was established at the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Uzbekistan.

At the meeting, attention was paid to organization of the activities of this agency, the responsible persons were instructed to form projects in the field of transport, energy, trade and the provision of services, which are scheduled to be implemented with the participation of foreign investments on the basis of public-private partnership mechanisms.

The newly established State Assets Management Agency was given specific instructions on how to accelerate the attraction of foreign direct investment in state-owned enterprises.

The need to hold overseas presentations in the format of “road shows” to attract foreign direct investment in the above mentioned industries was noted.

The investment program for the current year provides for the implementation of construction and repair works at about 3 thousand objects at the expense of centralized sources. President Shavkat Mirziyoyev instructed in a short time to complete the work on the financing and development of design and estimate documentation and speed up the start of construction work.

It was noted that to improve the development of investment programs, it is necessary to widely introduce international experience in the management of design institutes.

In the regions, the state of attracting investment in production is unsatisfactory, it was emphasized at the meeting. Pharmaceutical and hygienic products, foodstuffs and children’s clothes are imported to Uzbekistan in large quantities. And this is despite the fact that there are ample opportunities for the production of these goods in our country.

In this regard, the President ordered the heads of ministries and departments to go to the regions assigned to them and take measures to accelerate the projects implemented there, attracting investors, including free economic zones, for the production of consumer goods.

The state of the use of funds of international financial institutions was also considered. Poor work of the ministries of housing and public services, health care, water management in the implementation of annual plans was indicated. Responsible persons are given instructions to accelerate the implementation of projects.

The lack of the necessary infrastructure in the field prevents the attraction of investments, the meeting noted. There are problems associated with the allocation of land for projects, connecting to the networks of electricity, gas, water supply and sewerage. In this regard, the Ministry of Investment and Foreign Trade was entrusted with developing a three-year program for the development of infrastructure facilities in the regions.

Practical measures have been identified to ensure the execution of these instructions and eliminate existing problems.