On 19 February, the Uzbek leader signed a resolution “On organization of activities of the Ministry for Development of Information Technologies and Communications of the Republic of Uzbekistan”.

The document approved the "roadmap" for the improvement of ICT sector for 2018-2019.

According to the road map, till 1 September 2018, Uzbekistan will draft a bill, envisaging legal regulation of electronic money.

Till 1 June 2018, the Competence Center for Distributed Registry Technologies (Blockchain) will be created at the Mirzo Ulugbek Innovation Center.

The center will form conditions for using the opportunities of “blockchain”, increasing the personnel potential and supporting domestic developers in mastering this technology.

The document said that the country will actively develop and encourage the use of contactless payment technologies, including using international payment systems such as PayPal, Alipay, Visa and Mastercard. A set of measures in this direction will be developed till 1 June 2018.