On February 27, the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev received the World Bank delegation led by Vice President for Europe and Central Asia Cyril Muller.

Warmly welcoming the guests, the Head of the state emphasized the dynamically developing productive partnership between the Republic of Uzbekistan and the World Bank Group.

It was emphasized that intensive contacts and constructive dialogue in recent years have contributed to expansion of bilateral cooperation, its filling with new promising programs. The efficiency of interaction and the volume of investments of this reputable international financial institution have significantly increased.

Currently, the cooperation portfolio is formed by about 40 implemented and ongoing priority projects with attraction of preferential financing of the bank in the amount of 4.5 billion USD.

They cover such important spheres and areas as development of the digital economy, modernization of energy, transport, urban and municipal infrastructure, introduction of advanced and energy efficient technologies, intensive development of agriculture, improvement of education and healthcare systems and many others.

Within the framework of long-term Partnership Program for the period up to 2020, last year the Board of Directors of the bank approved new projects worth over 1.4 billion USD.

In addition, leading experts of the World Bank took an active part in preparing proposals for reforming the tax system and civil aviation.

At the meeting, issues of further deepening multifaceted partnership between Uzbekistan and the World Bank Group were substantively discussed.

The importance of promoting practical cooperation in such areas as development of the banking and financial sector, supporting entrepreneurship and the real sector of the economy, reforming state enterprises and the agro-industrial complex, improving the business environment and investment climate, widespread introduction of public-private partnership mechanisms in implementation of infrastructure projects and others was noted.

An agreement was reached on joint development of a long-term cooperation program within the framework of the Economic Council.

The World Bank Vice President Cyril Muller expressed deep gratitude to the President of Uzbekistan for the warm welcome and attention paid to issues of effective implementation of the bank’s projects in Uzbekistan.

The guest emphasized that successful issuance of securities on international securities markets, obtaining sovereign ratings and increasing in the international country rating are the international recognition of the ongoing new course of large-scale socio-economic transformations in Uzbekistan.

The World Bank’s readiness to strengthen the mutually beneficial partnership with Uzbekistan in order to promote sustainable development of the country and the entire region was confirmed.