Baku, Azerbaijan, April 20
By Fikret Dolukhanov – Trend:
Another bilateral business forum between Uzbekistan and Japan may possibly be held in Tokyo in Winter 2018, a source in the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) Uzbekistan office told Trend.
“In March 2018, there was an event that the Uzbek governmental officials and some Uzbek companies visited Tokyo and discussed potential investment opportunities in Uzbekistan. Also, we heard that there may be another bilateral business forum in Tokyo possibly in Winter 2018,” the source said.
Commenting on the recent economic reforms in Uzbekistan and their effects on the investment attractiveness of the country, the source noted that such measures forward the economic development.
“We believe that various measures such as foreign exchange liberalization, tax reform, and establishment of the agency for public services can help the country create more favorable conditions for investors, which can lead to further economic growth of the country,” the source said.
Technical cooperation between the JICA and Uzbekistan started in 1993, and the JICA Uzbekistan Office has been operating since 1999. JICA’s Official Development Assistance to Uzbekistan has totaled over $2.7 billion.
Among the organization’s priorities in Uzbekistan are the energy, transport, human resources development, agriculture, healthcare and other spheres.
Currently, JICA’s loans are used in several major energy projects in Uzbekistan with the largest one being the nearly $860-million JUPITER Initiative (Japan-Uzbekistan Partnership for Introduction of Technology for Energy-sector Reinforcement), which includes the Turakurgan Thermal Power Station Construction Project, the Electric Power Sector Capacity Development Loan and the Tashkent Heat and Power Cogeneration Plant Construction Project.
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