Online talks between the Deputy Prime Minister Sardor Umurzakov and the World Bank Vice President for Europe and Central Asia Anna Bjerde were held on July 23, the Ministry for Foreign Trade and Investments said.
The parties reportedly discussed the progress of the bilateral cooperation and of joint projects for the first year half, the upcoming projects under preparation, as well as promising areas for further cooperation with the World Bank in terms of economic reforms and structural transformations in Uzbekistan.
The parties also noted that in the first year-half, the volume of drawn funds of the World Bank amounted to US$ 310 million dollars, and the utilization rate reached one of the highest rates in the region.
Anna Bjerde announced that currently 9 new projects are being drafted in the field of telecommunication technologies, energy, commercialization of science, urban planning, forestry, as well as improving systems for collecting and processing statistical data and tax administration totaling 1.5 billion dollars.
Sardor Umurzakov highly valued the World Bank’s role in the implementation of large-scale reforms in Uzbekistan: the bank's experts provided substantial support in the development of a "road map" of the main axes of structural reforms of the Republic of Uzbekistan for 2019-2021, the reform program for the aviation and energy sectors, economy, the higher education system development concept, the new edition of the Tax Code, strategies for reforming the banking system.
In this context, further actions were discussed within the framework of joint work to reform state-owned enterprises, the banking sector, the aviation industry and other sectors of the economy of Uzbekistan.
