On August 24 this year, under the chairmanship of the Deputy Prime Minister of Economic Development and Poverty Reduction Jamshid Kuchkarov, a meeting with the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland - Timothy Torlot took place in the format of videoconference. The videoconference was also attended by the Minister of Finance of the Republic of Uzbekistan - Timur Ishmetov, Minister of Employment and Labor Relations of the Republic of Uzbekistan - Nozim Khusanov, Chairman of the State Committee of the Republic of Uzbekistan on Statistics Bakhodir Begalov, as well as representatives of other responsible government offices.

At the beginning of the meeting, the British side was familiarized with the economic situation in Uzbekistan, measures taken by the country's government to mitigate the consequences of the coronavirus pandemic. The Uzbek side presented spheres of cooperation, obtaining technical support and British experience.

The development of interdepartmental institutional activities and the implementation of economic policy were noted as priority areas. Special attention was paid to the issue of cooperation in the field of active implementation of IFRS in the country and the training system, as well as testing and certification of professional auditors.

They also noted the reform in the field of public procurement and processes aimed at ensuring maximum transparency of procurement of budgetary organizations. The parties expressed interest in exchanging views and reviewing the experience of the British government in the field of tax administration. Participants agreed on the importance of cooperation in areas such as human capital development, in particular entrepreneurship education and the provision of appropriate support from the government, including for women and youth, the development of the labor market and the expansion of the formal sector, as well as the urbanization process as an inherent element of the development of internal migration. Technical support for the development of statistics in the Republic of Uzbekistan was also highlighted as a key aspect of the vector of cooperation with the UK.

In turn, Timothy Torlot noted the importance of cooperation and exchange of views with the provision of appropriate support to build the best post-pandemic economy, in particular the expansion of the green economy.

Finally, the parties agreed to organize similar dialogues on a regular basis.

Source: Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Uzbekistan