Baku, Azerbaijan, July 19
By Fikret Dolukhanov – Trend:
The French Development Agency (AFD) will invest about 450 million euros to implement several projects in Uzbekistan within the next four years, the French Embassy in Tashkent stated.
“The parties will now finish discussion of all the details of the bilateral cooperation program for 2018-2021, where the projects and their financing are scheduled,” the diplomatic body noted.
The agreement between the governments of the two countries on establishment and further activities of the AFD and the Society for Promoting and Participating in Economic Cooperation in Uzbekistan was signed back in December 2016.
The AFD itself has been operating in Uzbekistan since June 2009 under a special mandate. In August 2015, the agency opened an office in Tashkent in the building of the French Embassy.
At the moment, the AFD is implementing a project in Samarkand to modernize solid waste management system. This initiative provides for creation of the first in Central Asia modern waste management chain from separate collection of garbage at the level of housing blocks to its processing and utilization, as well as organization of biogas production.
In particular, it is planned to purchase about 70 garbage trucks and other special equipment until the end of 2021, to build a garbage landfill and a waste sorting center, and to reconstruct and create new garbage collection points.
This unique for Central Asia project provides for comprehensive management of waste - from collection to processing and valorization, with innovative solutions adapted to Samarkand, to improve the living conditions of city residents, as well as to protect the environment and natural resources of the entire region, especially its water resources.
The project should be implemented in accordance with the decree of the president of Uzbekistan of July 19, 2017.
It was earlier reported that the AFD is planning to provide loans to Uzbekistan for a total of up to 600 million euros for projects in spheres of tourism, water supply, construction and modernization of hydroelectric power stations, as well as in agriculture in the Tashkent region in 2018-2021.
The AFD is an agency of the French government, created in 1941. The agency finances projects and programs in over 100 developing countries.
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