BAKU, Azerbaijan, December 23. The UK has new and existing programmes on education, green inclusive business investments, and effective economic governance in Uzbekistan, the Ambassador of the UK to Uzbekistan Timothy Smart told Trend.
"We are introducing a new education fund for 6.5 million pounds ($8.2 million), which will build on the UK’s significant experience of working with partners operating in the education sector. The fund will identify catalytic gaps in educational provision and provide targeted support for equitable and quality education; provide systemic support to implement reform, including to improve the skills of teachers and leaders; advise on educational quality assurance systems and English language development across the region; and promote an evidence-based UK education offer that will deepen education partnerships and position the UK as the long-term partner of choice for Uzbekistan. The facility will work with international financial institutes and strategic delivery partners such as the British Council, UNICEF, the Aga Khan Foundation, UK universities, and other UK partners such as Voluntary Services Overseas," he said.
Ambassador Smart explained how the UK’s 18 million pound ($22.7 million) Green Inclusive Growth Fund will establish a private equity/venture capital fund to support green small and medium-sized enterprises across the region to tackle economic issues (including job creation) and mitigate against climate change. By championing green growth, the Fund aims at making a positive climate and environmental impact. The programme started earlier this year and will last till 2029.
"The Effective Governance for Economic Development (EGED) Programme, the first multiyear bilateral programme launched by the UK in the Central Asia region, has been implemented since 2020 and aims to improve the efficiency, accountability, and transparency of economic policy implementation according to the reform priorities in Uzbekistan, as well as in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan. On the supply side, the programme supports increasing the effectiveness of economic policy in general and in individual sectors through planning and implementation of policies based on the systematic use of data, while on the demand side, it fosters improvement to the quality of interactions between government and civil society," he underscored.
The Ambassador noted that over the last four years, in Uzbekistan, the programme has provided technical assistance and expert policy support in the areas of labor rights and employment, public procurement, transformation of state-owned enterprises, public finance management, and eCommerce. EGED has also supported a number of critical analytical and policy papers feeding into Uzbekistan’s reform initiatives (e.g., Country Gender Assessment, Air Quality and Land Management reports, Listening to the Citizens of Uzbekistan, etc.). Furthermore, through a climate window, the programme sponsored the World Bank projects that helped generate critical evidence for climate-smart policies and reforms.
"EGED is also providing support to the Delivery Unit in the center of the government to help ensure better economic policy performance by embedding evidence-informed processes into reform design and implementation. In addition, the programme will be supporting the WTO accession process from early 2025 around analytics, regulations, and capacity building for selected Uzbek ministries," he said.