BAKU, Azerbaijan, July 13
By Ilkin Seyfaddini - Trend:
President of Asian Development Bank (ADB) Masatsugu Asakawa and Uzbekistan’s Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Investments and Foreign Trade, Sardor Umurzakov discussed on July 13 ADB’s ongoing support for Uzbekistan’s fight against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic and the bank’s portfolio of projects in the country, Trend reports with reference to ADB.
“COVID-19 has hit all countries including Uzbekistan with devastating effect,” said Asakawa. “The government quickly strengthened the health care system, boosted social protection measures, and supported small and medium-sized enterprises through fiscal and monetary incentives and job creation schemes, but the situation remains very challenging. We are fully committed to helping the government manage the crisis and will continue to support the reform agenda.”
Uzbekistan’s Deputy Prime Minister expressed his gratitude to ADB for its ongoing support.
On 7 July 2020, ADB and the Government of Uzbekistan signed the agreement on a $500-million budget support loan to help Uzbekistan mitigate the adverse health and economic impacts of the disease, funded through ADB’s COVID-19 pandemic response option.
“ADB is working on further emergency assistance to help increase efficiency, quality, and accessibility of health care in Uzbekistan; establish a monitoring and response system for COVID-19; and improve the health care system’s overall resilience,” the message said.
Asakawa and Umurzakov discussed ADB’s ongoing support for Uzbekistan’s investments and reforms, including projects in hydropower, power sector reforms, gas transmission modernization, skills development, railways electrification, road rehabilitation, and solid waste management.
They also considered scaling up ADB’s engagement private sector and public–private partnerships (PPP) in Uzbekistan. The bank has successfully brought two PPP projects to the tendering phase including Sherabad Solar Phase 1 and Tashkent District Heating, and it plans to support nonsovereign projects in energy and financial services in the near future.
ADB is committed to achieving a prosperous, inclusive, resilient, and sustainable Asia and the Pacific, while sustaining its efforts to eradicate extreme poverty. Established in 1966, it is owned by 68 members with 49 from the region.
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