Today, Uzbekistan’s economy is undergoing an entirely new phase of development. Since 2016, the country has embarked on major reforms to liberalize the economy, create an attractive investment environment, participate proactively in global value chains, renew the social and production infrastructure, and improve living standards, Uzbekistan President Shavkat Mirziyoyev said in his address at the 59th Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors of the Asian Development Bank in Samarkand on May 4.
“In a historically short period of time, we have gone through a challenging path of development along with our hardworking and creative people. In recent years, our economy has attracted 150 billion dollars of foreign investment, and thousands of modern enterprises have been launched.
“Through investment projects worth 35 billion dollars in the energy sector alone we have increased electricity production by 1.5 times, bringing it to 87 billion kilowatt-hours.
“During this period, exports of goods and services tripled, and the volume of our economy grew from 50 billion to 147 billion dollars.
“These positive results are being acknowledged by the international community. Since 2020, Uzbekistan has consistently improved its sovereign credit ratings. In the Index of Economic Freedom, our country moved up 14 positions this year and, for the first time, joined the ranks of states with a ‘moderately free’ economy. Even amid global instability, our economy achieved 8.7 percent growth in the first quarter of this year.
“Most importantly, our reforms have focused primarily on improving the daily lives of every single family and individual. During this period, we increased the income of 8.5 million people in need, reducing the poverty rate from almost 35 percent to 5.8 percent today.
“By 2030, we intend to transform all sectors into technologically and innovation-driven growth model, thereby increasing the size of the economy to over 240 billion dollars. As a result, we aim to join the ranks of upper-middle-income countries and eradicate poverty completely,” Mirziyoyev stated.
The Uzbek president said that Uzbekistan particularly acknowledges the role of the Asian Development Bank and other international financial institutions in the large-scale reforms being implemented in Uzbekistan.
“In partnership with the Bank, which has become our trusted strategic partner, we are implementing projects worth nearly 16 billion dollars. We highly value ADB’s steadfast partnership from the outset in the areas of renewable energy, rural housing construction, and economic cooperation in Central Asia. We have outlined specific plans with the Asian Development Bank to further expand our close cooperation in important areas such as poverty reduction, human capital development, and modern infrastructure construction,” Mirziyoyev said, adding that the previous day Uzbekistan signed a new cooperation program with the ADB worth 12 billion dollars.
Photo: president.uz
