Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- On 28 December 2018, in the Message to Oliy Majlis, President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev declared 2019 the Year of Active Investments and Social Development. Speaking about attracting investments, the head of state separately noted that the broad attraction of investments requires the intensification of work to demonstrate the investment potential of our country.

The President paid particular attention to the need to continue active work to strengthen the position of Uzbekistan in the key ratings of the leading rating agencies and financial organizations of the world, which the international business focuses on.

Another important indicator, which for many years has served as one of the main evaluation criteria for foreign business when making decisions on investing in a particular country, is the annual report of the World Bank “Doing Business” (“Doing Business”).

The last report from this series was published in October 2018, and Uzbekistan took 76th place in it, demonstrating a positive trend in most indicators. To discuss this report, as well as the estimates of the further growth of Uzbekistan’s economy presented in the document, the Embassy of our country in Washington organized a briefing with the participation of leading experts of the World Bank, the press service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Uzbekistan said.

The event was attended by representatives of the US government, member companies of the American-Uzbek Chamber of Commerce, as well as compatriots who work in the system of the World Bank Group.

In his report on the theme “Uzbekistan and Central Asia: Development Prospects”, the WB Senior Officer for Central Asia Paul Kirby presented the bank’s vision of the current global economic situation and its influence on the processes in the region. The expert said that the past 2018 was marked by sharp jumps and declines in global production and exports: “The global economy is becoming less favorable for development”.

The main achievements of the Government of Uzbekistan over the past two years, Paul Kirby, called the transition to free conversion and the granting of broader powers to the Central Bank. A timely decision on the implementation of reforms has become the guarantor of "predictable inflation."

The co-author of the Doing Business-2019 report, Edgar Chavez, informed the participants about the achievements of the countries of Eurasia, as well as of Uzbekistan separately on the implementation of reforms in the field of creating favorable conditions for business. According to him, in the Doing Business-2019 report, the republic took the 76th position with 67.40 points out of 100, which is 1.08 points more than a year earlier. In particular, Uzbekistan maintains a leading position in the Start Business category, ranking 12th in the world, as well as high rates in the categories Connecting to the power supply system — 35th place and Contract Enforcement — 41st .

World Bank expert Julian Vilkuin in his report on “Doing Business at the Regional Level” focused on the need to intensify work to raise the awareness of foreign investors about the opportunities for business development created in Uzbekistan. For this, he suggested that the republic, jointly with the WB, prepare a so-called subnational report “Doing Business in Uzbekistan”.

According to the expert, the subnational report will allow “assessing the strengths and weaknesses” of each region of the country, as well as pinpoint resources to eliminate existing problems. In addition, this analysis will be actively used by foreign investors in the process of choosing a place to invest.