Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) - Uzbekistan’s ministries and departments are meeting with a World Bank (WB) delegation led by Vice President for Europe and Central Asia, Cyril Muller, Dunyo reports.

At a meeting with the Chairman of the Senate of the Oliy Majlis of the Republic of Uzbekistan Tanzila Narbaeva, the parties exchanged views on the prospects for cooperation between Uzbekistan and the World Bank. The World Bank delegation expressed its readiness to cooperate with the new parliament, including the Senate, in order to improve the legal framework for further liberalization of the national economy.

It was noted that the World Bank will continue to cooperate with Uzbekistan in attracting investment in the economy of Uzbekistan, including financing projects in the field of education and healthcare, implementing joint projects in the digital economy, introducing innovations and creating new jobs for women and youth within the framework of the Prosperous Mahalla program. ".

The World Bank also supported the Senate initiative to finance rural women's entrepreneurship. The project is being implemented as part of the JCD program.

The WB delegation met with the First Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Uzbekistan - Minister of Transport Ochilboy Ramatov, during which the parties discussed issues of further strengthening long-term and mutually beneficial cooperation between Uzbekistan and the World Bank, implementation of projects in priority areas of cooperation with the World Bank.

In particular, they discussed the implementation in cooperation with the World Bank of projects for the construction and reconstruction of airports, roads and infrastructure of the country.

Cyril Muller noted that so far the World Bank has provided financial support to projects in Uzbekistan, mainly in the field of road construction. The Bank announced its readiness to participate in projects to modernize the airport infrastructure in Uzbekistan.

Ramatov said that with the participation of the World Bank more than 40 projects are being implemented in the country. It is noted that further work will be continued with the World Bank to improve civil aviation in Uzbekistan.

The World Bank delegation also held talks with representatives of the Ministry of Investment and Foreign Trade, during which the parties discussed issues of bilateral cooperation, the results of joint activities in 2019, the current status of ongoing projects and prospects for expanding cooperation in 2020.

Mr. Muller noted a significant increase in exports in the textile, automotive and fruit and vegetable sectors, and as a result - optimization of the country's trade balance, which, according to him, is a sign of increasing the sustainability of the national economy. It was recommended that attention be paid to the intensive development of the real sector of the economy due to the wide involvement of the population in entrepreneurial activity, which in turn will enhance social support for the population by increasing budget revenues.

In 2019, the World Bank approved financing of projects totaling more than US$950 million, including those related to the development of entrepreneurship in the Ferghana Valley, building institutional capacity, improving early child development, providing budget support, strengthening the social protection system, and implementing the Obod Qishloq project.

It was emphasized that initiatives implemented with the financial support of the World Bank are of great importance for the socio-economic development of the country. Thus, the implementation of the project “Comprehensive development of medium-sized cities” will allow for a phased transition to a systematic and systematic development of cities in Uzbekistan, which is supported by other international financial institutions-partners - the Asian Development Bank and the Asian Bank for Infrastructure Investments. In this context, the prospects of cooperation with the World Bank for the joint development of the National Program for the Development of Middle Cities, which implies the introduction of modern approaches to urban development and its financing, were discussed.

Particular attention was paid to enhancing interaction on coordination of development partners of Uzbekistan in the framework of the "Country Platform", a single platform for interaction with international financial institutions. The parties discussed practical measures to implement the agreements reached during the first Country Platform in October 2019 in Washington, affecting a wide range of processes of socio-economic transformation of Uzbekistan and support of international financial organizations in these processes.

The discussion also touched upon the current state and prospects of foreign trade of Uzbekistan, in connection with which the steps taken to join the World Trade Organization and the opportunities for cooperation in this direction were discussed.

The visit of the World Bank delegation to our country continues.