Ministry of Economy and Finance of the Republic of Uzbekistan

A series of working meetings and expert seminars were held during the visit.
 

Specifically, on May 20, an official meeting was held between Gleb Pokatovich, Acting Director of the FRI, Tatyana Jaglina, the Program Curator, and Ahadbek Haydarov, Deputy Minister of Economy and Finance of the Republic of Uzbekistan. The meeting summarized the preliminary results of the three-year Program and was also attended by key personnel from the Ministry of Economy and Finance responsible for the nine areas of cooperation. The preliminary results of the three-year Program were summarized.
 

Additionally, Gleb Pokatovich held a working meeting with Dilshod Sultanov, Deputy Director of the Institute for Fiscal Analysis, Reducing the Shadow Economy, and Improving Tax and Customs Administration under the Ministry of Economy and Finance of the Republic of Uzbekistan (hereinafter referred to as the Institute). The meeting focused on the implementation of the three-year Program and promising areas for future cooperation.
 

Seminars were also held in the following areas of cooperation:
 

On May 19, the first day of the visit, a seminar was held on "Improving the Budget Process Based on Program-Targeted Approaches to Budgeting in the Republic of Uzbekistan." The seminar was attended by experts from the FRI Igor Kovtun, Roman Afanasyev, and Leonid Bogdanov from Russia, and from Uzbekistan, by the Deputy Minister of Poverty Reduction and Employment, Alisher Murodov; the Head of the Budget Program Development Department at the Ministry of Economy and Finance, Sherkhon Sayfutdinov; and the Head of the Department for Budget Program Formulation and Investment Project Coordination at the Ministry of Poverty Reduction and Employment, Sherzod Mukhtorov.
 

On the same day, the Institute hosted a seminar dedicated to the interaction of internal audit services of ministries and departments with other state financial control bodies and the Chamber of Accounts of the Republic of Uzbekistan, as well as the development of proposals for organizing internal audits within local executive authorities.
 

Program experts from Russia, Maksim Nikolayev and Svetlana Tabalina, participated. Also attending the seminar were Azamat Jabborov, Head of the Internal Audit Harmonization Department of the Ministry of Economy and Finance of the Republic of Uzbekistan; Dilshod Pulatov, First Deputy Director of the Institute; Dilshod Sultanov, Deputy Director of the Institute; and other employees of the ministry and the institute.
 

On May 20, a seminar dedicated to "Developing Proposals to Increase the Openness of Budget Data and the Budget Process in the Republic of Uzbekistan" was held at the Ministry of Economy and Finance. A meeting took place between program experts Sergey Sudakov, Antonina Kovalevskaya, Yana Polyakova, and Yekaterina Kopalkina, and Bekzod Ulugov, Head of the Department for State Financial Statistics and Budget Openness, along with his department's staff. During the meeting, they discussed documents from international organizations and initiatives in the field of budget control and budget expenditure audits, as well as recommendations developed by experts from the Fiscal Research Institute (FRI) to enhance the effectiveness of budget control in the Republic of Uzbekistan.
 

In the afternoon, a seminar on the "Development of New Public Procurement Tools in the Republic of Uzbekistan" was held at the Agency for Industrial Cooperation and Public Procurement. Program experts Inna Rikova and Makar Kudelich reviewed current issues in regulating the essential terms of life-cycle contracts and proposed procedures to expand their implementation in the public procurement activities of the Republic of Uzbekistan. The seminar was attended by Agency representatives – Head of the Public Procurement Methodology Department Furkat Rakhmonov, Chief Specialist of the Department Yuliya Kim, and other employees.
 

On May 21, the Institute hosted seminars on two additional areas of the Program.
 

In the morning, a seminar was held on the topic "Preparing Recommendations for the Development of the Republic of Uzbekistan's Medium-Term Tax Policy to Increase Budget Tax Revenues and Enhance Business Transparency."
 

The seminar was attended by the Deputy Director of the Institute, Dilshod Sultonov; Head of the Department of Policy Analysis and Development for Indirect Taxes, Customs Payments, and Tax and Customs Incentives at the Ministry of Economy and Finance, Umidjon Sultonov; Chief Specialist of the Department, Nodirbek Sadullayev; as well as other employees from the ministry and the Institute.
 

Program experts Milyausha Pinskaya, Sergey Shatalov, Yulia Steshenko, Rodion Balakin, and Nadezhda Vishnevskaya presented a series of proposals and developments to their partners regarding the tax system of the Republic of Uzbekistan. Specifically, they presented proposals to improve the taxation regime for individual entrepreneurs and self-employed citizens in Uzbekistan, methodological approaches for assessing the need to introduce a digital services tax, and an overview of the e-commerce taxation system in the Republic of Uzbekistan.
 

On the same day, a seminar was also held on "Improving the System for Evaluating Budget Expenditure Efficiency and Introducing Budget Review Tools in the Republic of Uzbekistan."
 

The seminar was attended by the First Deputy Director of the Institute, Dilshod Pulatov; the Director of the Department of Integrated Regional Development of the Ministry of Economy and Finance, Kurbonmurat Taparov; and other employees of the department.
 

Together with Russian experts Alexey Popov, Alexander Kovalevsky, Sergey Shorin, and Denis Dogdanov, the parties reviewed the challenges of evaluating the effectiveness of financing programs aimed at the development of mahallas and infrastructure in the Republic of Uzbekistan. They also planned the next stages of work on improving the regulatory framework and maintaining regional ratings.

PR and Communications Department

Ministry of Economy and Finance