Ministry of Economy and Finance of the Republic of Uzbekistan

At the event, experts from the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the International Finance Corporation, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the Islamic Development Bank, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), as well as investment banks MUFG, J.P. Morgan, Standard Chartered Bank, Raiffeisen Bank International, and Citigroup made presentations on modern financial instruments for attracting funds from abroad independently for enterprises with state participation and commercial banks.

Advisor to the Minister of Economy and Finance Jasur Karshibayev spoke about the reforms being implemented to achieve the priority tasks defined in the “Uzbekistan-2030” strategy. At the same time, attention was paid to the importance of wider use of new financial instruments in the transformation of enterprises with state participation and commercial banks, as well as in attracting foreign capital.

Chairman of the Board of “UzAssets” JSC Bobur Abdinazarov provided information on the ongoing transformation work at state-owned enterprises. In particular, it was noted that more than 20 state-owned enterprises are being converted to IFRS standards, and 13 enterprises have received international credit ratings.

The General Director of Finasia Capital, Odilbek Isakov, presented on the instruments currently available for attracting funds from external sources, in particular, international bonds, syndicated loans, subordinated loans, bilateral loans, ECA loans, revolving credit lines, and trade financing loans.

In turn, the representative of Raiffeisen Bank International, Shota Zhvania, noted that on March 26-27 of this year, the event “Uzbekistan Investors Day” will be held in London, and at this event, enterprises and commercial banks operating in the republic will hold negotiations with international investors and present their projects.

Regional Director of the World Bank for Central Asia Tatiana Proskuryakova, Head of Country Operations of the Asian Development Bank Mirzo-Iskandar Gulyamov, Representative of the International Finance Corporation in Uzbekistan Neil McKain, Head of the Representative Office of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development in Uzbekistan Andi Aranitasi, representative of the Islamic Development Bank Khusan Khusanov, representative of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank Alexey Shevchenko, representative of the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) Annabel Gastal, as well as specialists from these international financial institutions, presented detailed information on modern instruments for attracting funds from international financial institutions without state guarantees when financing investment projects in the republic.

At the same time, detailed information was provided on the role of environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) ratings in attracting foreign investment. Opinions were expressed about how international investors are increasingly focusing on ESG criteria and what reforms Uzbek enterprises should carry out in this direction.

The Managing Director of MUFG, Christopher Marks, Vice President of J.P. Morgan, Arseniy Loboyko, Executive Directors of Standard Chartered Bank, Lucy Rahal and Desislava Radeva, and Director of Citigroup, Jason Zullo, as well as international experts from these investment banks, provided detailed information on the currently popular instruments of mixed financing (“Blended finance”), financing by the export credit agency (“ECA Financing”), financing of infrastructure and capital expenditures (“Infrastructure and Capex Financing”), indefinite bonds (“Additional Tier 1”), and the use of repo operations (“REPO”).

Information Service

Ministry of Economy and Finance