On July 17 this year, the Working Group headed by Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Uzbekistan S. Umurzakov and including the heads of ministries, departments, industry associations and commercial banks left for Surkhandarya region to monitor investment and infrastructure projects, identify points of economic growth in the region, and also study the existing issues of entrepreneurs and exporters in order to provide prompt assistance.

Members of the Working Group visited the enterprises and reviewed the operation of the entrepreneurs and exporters, as well as the progress in modernization and expansion of regional infrastructure.

They analyzed regional development program providing the implementation of 1,449 investment projects totaling UZS 22.2 trillion in 2020-2021. At the same time, the production facilities created under 1,057 projects totaling UZS 6.7 trillion will be commissioned no later than July 1, 2021. Agriculture, textile and food industries, as well as the production of construction materials and tourism are promising areas in the region. The analysis revealed low indicators of attracting investments in Uzun, Muzrabad, Baysun, Angora and Sherabad districts of Surkhandarya region. This resulted in instructions to the heads of commercials banks to develop additional investment projects, which will increase social and economic development of these areas together with the heads of the relevant local authorities and private initiators.

Separately, they considered perspective areas, which can became drivers for the economic development of the region. Thus, for example, the horticulture, pomegranate and viticulture sectors have significant potential. They identified that the region has a total of 0.6 thousand hectares of inefficiently used orchards and vineyards. The members developed the proposals to optimize these areas and organize new horticultural enterprises, which would provide the creation of more than 1.1 new horticultural enterprises, as well as 3 thousand hectares to grow pomegranates. They defined 103 initiators to implement these projects, who will receive comprehensive support. Executive officers received instructions to form new projects here in order to use additional 3.5 thousand hectares of land to create new gardens and vineyards. They also were instructed to increase the processing of products, considering the 30 percent growth in the volume of fruits cultivation in the region planned by the end of 2021.

The textile and knitwear industry plans the implementation of 55 projects worth USD 169 million, which will create 5.2 thousand new jobs. In this area, there were instructions to pay attention to the production of finished products under well-known brands by establishing cooperation with leading foreign companies.

Considering the reserves of construction limestone, marble, granite, dolomite, travertine and other minerals available in the region, there were 166 investment projects developed in the production of construction materials totaling USD 297.6 million.

The regional development program paid a particular attention to the increase of localization of production in priority industries. Here, the heads of industry associations received instructions to develop a localization program for Surkhandarya region containing promising projects in the electrical, leather and footwear, textile, pharmaceutical industries, as well as in the production of construction materials. The members noted that the favorable geographical position of the region (including the border with Afghanistan) provided the significant export potential for the project and their compliance with the needs and requirements of foreign markets.

With this in mind, the Group's top officials visited the border complex 'Ayrit' and reviewed the existing infrastructure, as well as the range of customs and logistics services. They noted the priorities for the further improvement of operation of customs checkpoint for full and high-quality satisfaction of the needs of entities engaged in foreign economic activities, which will provide intensification of cargo transportation in the Uzbek-Afghan direction and the potential of mutual trade between Uzbekistan and Afghanistan.

A particular attention was paid to measures accelerating implementation of major projects in Termez Free Economic Zones focused on the production of finished textile, leather, footwear and electrical products to maximize the use of the economic potential of the FEZ. From this perspective, the heads of the relevant departments received instructions to promptly connect required engineering communications and lay roads.

There was a critical analysis of the work on employment of the population: the members noted unused opportunities in such areas as fruit and vegetable production, animal husbandry, poultry farming, fish farming, beekeeping, handicrafts, as well as in the textile, food and jewelry industries.

They reviewed the implementation of 13 infrastructure projects in the region totaling USD 622.8 million, including projects for the modernization and reconstruction of the water supply system in Surkhandarya region amounted to USD 419.4 million, as well as number of projects for the construction of sewerage systems in cities and district centers of the region funded by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and other international financial institutions. Besides, it is planned to implement 9 projects for the construction of highways worth USD 805 million, including a project to reconstruct sections of the Bishkek-Dushanbe-Termez highway, as well as the M39 Tashkent-Termez highway. The review resulted in targeted instructions to solve existing problems and accelerate these projects.

Following the visit to the region, the members marked further measures to increase investment and foreign economic activity, form new jobs, provide targeted support to entrepreneurs and exporters, including assignment of certain executive officers and specifying deadlines to achieve goals. The General Prosecutor's Office of the Republic of Uzbekistan will monitor the execution of instructions.