On April 19, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev held a government meeting devoted to enhancing the personal liability of executives of all levels for optimizing the imports through further localization of production and expanding industrial cooperation, as well as fulfilling the forecast exports figures and fully utilizing reserves to increase exports, UzA reported.

According to statistics, over 2,800 projects totaling US$ 5.5 billion have been realized within localization programs, and production of over 4,800 new products has been mastered. As a result, the imports over the past five years decreased by US$ 752 million, in 2016 - by US$ 286 million.

However, the complexes under the Cabinet of Ministers, ministries, agencies and business associations have allowed unjustified growth of imports, which has leads to cash waste, which instead could be used for important projects to expand production and jobs creation, it was noted at the meeting.

In 2016, the enterprises under UzbekEnergo, AMMC, UzbekYengilsanoat, UzQurilishMateriallar, NMMC, UzPahtaSanoatExport, UzDonMahsulot, UzbekCharmPoyabzali and UzPharmSanoat significantly increased imports. A number of companies, including UzbekNefteGaz, AMMC, UzbekYengilSanoat, UzbekEnergo, UzQurilishMateriallar, UzKimyoSanoat, UzEltehSanoat, UzPharmSanoat and UzbekOziqovaqtHolding, allowed imports of products, manufacture of which have been in fact mastered by Uzbek enterprises. Some enterprises imported products that are not relevant to their activities.

The executives of these companies and associations have been strongly warned that they shall bear strict liability, and may even be fired for increase of imports, especially of products, raw materials and materials already produced in the country, and for waste of cash on irrelevant  imports, . The heads of the complexes of the Cabinet, ministries, agencies, joint-stock companies, associations, economic associations will bear personal liability for optimizing and reducing imports, as well as for effective use of cash by their affiliates.

The Customs Committee is instructed to establish a permanent and strict control over the conformity of the imports’ range to the activities of importing companies. The Committee for Investments is instructed to draft a critical analysis of the reasonableness of price parameters of equipment and technology import contracts, their tender documentation, and turnkey investment projects.

The meeting also focused on expansion of localization of high-quality import-substituting products. The activities of the executives of UzPharmSanoat, Mirzanozim Dusmuratov, UzElTechSanoat, Fazliddin Bakiyev, UzAgroSanoatHolding, Nodir Otazhonov, UzbekOziqovaqtHolding, Odilkhon Rustamov and UzMontazhMaxsusQurilish, Azam Shodiev for poor follow-up of localization projects and production of localized products were severely criticized.

In order to stimulate the expansion of localization, the Ministry of Economy was instructed to critically review the approach when forming the Localization Program, envisaging the introduction in 2018 of a notification mechanism for adding new localization projects in the program on the basis of the list of import substituting products to be manufactured at domestic enterprises.

Special attention was paid to the facts of formality approach of many enterprises to contracts entered into at the International Industrial Fair and the Matchmaking Session. In particular, products under contracts in 2016 concluded by UzAvtoSanoat, UzMontazhMaxsusQurilish, Toshshahartranshizmat, DavAvtoYulQurilish, Uzbekistan Airways and UzAgroSanoatHolding were not fully purchased.

Particular attention was paid to the issues of increasing the exports of goods, works and services, utilizing the unused reserves to boost exports, taking into account the demand in world markets.

It was noted that, despite the growth in exports in Q1 of 2017 by 9.1% to the same period in 2016, a number of enterprises of the industries and territories of the country did not fully meet the set export goals.

For shortcomings in ensuring the fulfillment of the forecast  export goals, the activities of the chiefs of UzAgroSanoatHolding, UzbekOziqovaqtHolding, UzQurilishMateriallar, UzPharmSanoat, the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Karakalpakstan and the governors were critically assessed.

The districts mayors who failed to ensure the established volumes of fruit and vegetable exports in Q1 were warned that should they fail to fulfill the forecast parameters in the first half of the year, their further stay in the respective posts will be reconsidered.

Chiefs of industries and territories who failed to meet the forecast export figures were instructed to develop and approve, in a ten-day period, specific measures to eliminate problems in each enterprise in order to fill the gap and reach the approved export parameters in the first half of the year and 2017 as a whole.

Attention was also paid to the creation of new jobs. Ministries, agencies, mayors’ offices and local authorities were given instructions to organize a new system of job creation.