Foreign businessmen cut investing in Uzbekistan

By Nigar Guliyeva – Trend:

The inflow of foreign investment into the Uzbek economy decreased by more than 40 percent, from $ 3.3 billion to $ 1.9 billion in the period from 2011 to 2016.

This was announced by Azim Ahmedkhadzhayev, the Chairman of the State Committee for Investments at the round table on improving the investment climate in the country Nov. 8.

However, foreign investments in Uzbekistan amounted to $4.2 billion since the beginning of the year. Some $ 3.7 billion of total investments came accounted for the foreign direct investment. Among the investors are companies from the USA, Turkey, South Korea, Germany, Russia and Japan, he noted.

Ahmedkhadzhayev noted that one of the tasks of the committee is to disclose the country's total investment potential. Efforts in this direction were recognized by the World Bank in the new ranking "Doing Business-2018", in which Uzbekistan entered the top ten world leaders to improve the business climate.

"From 2012 to 2017, Uzbekistan rose up by 92 positions in the ranking - from 166th to 74th place. Our next goal is quite ambitious - we want to enter the top 20 countries by 2025, " he said.

Uzbekistan is carrying out a significant revision of the legislative framework for attracting foreign investments, Azim Ahmedkhadzhayev stressed. A draft concept of the Investment Code has been developed, he said, adding that this is a consolidated legal document that does not have any references to external regulations or articles.

A meeting of the Council for Foreign Investments will be held in late November, where it is planned to discuss the mechanisms of public-private partnership in Uzbekistan, as well as the corresponding bill.

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