Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- The Ministry of Finance hosted a meeting with representatives of the Asian Development Bank, headed by Werner Lipak, Director General for Central and West Asia.

The meeting was devoted to further strengthening cooperation and technical cooperation in such areas as public-private partnership (PPP), energy, transport, agriculture and the improvement of the public procurement system and regulatory acts governing public procurement. Deputy Prime Minister - Minister of Finance of the Republic of Uzbekistan Jamshid Kuchkarov and senior officials discussed the priorities and partnership strategy for the years 2019-2023.

Noting the importance of developing PPPs, Werner Lipak welcomed the introduction of additional measures that would be useful to support investment projects, as well as the development of the newly created PPP Development Agency under the Ministry of Finance.

Recently, the ADB has increased its loan funds allocated to Uzbekistan, providing new loan commitments to the Country Business Plan (BIP) for 2018–2020. BIP fully supports the national development strategy of the country and reflects the updated development priorities of Uzbekistan. With a project portfolio of US$2.9 billion, Uzbekistan is the country with the largest loan from ADB in the region for 2018.

Mr. Lipak also expressed interest in helping to improve irrigation water supply. The Ministry of Finance, in turn, noted the importance of introducing drip irrigation for the development of this sphere.

During the negotiations, it was noted that in the near future, the bank will provide international experts to provide advisory support to the Ministry in the development of PPP and public procurement systems.

At the conclusion of the talks, the parties also discussed other promising projects and how ADB technical assistance can best be used to support reforms in the country.