On June 19 this year, the Working Group headed by Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Uzbekistan S. Umurzakov and involving heads of relevant ministries, departments, industry associations, and commercial banks, as well as representatives of local government bodies, summarized the week-long work on a comprehensive review of the economic potential of the Republic of Karakalpakstan across the industries, regions and cities, inventory of the regional investment program, as well as proposals to enhance investment activities.

The core function of the Working Group was to ensure maximum economic efficiency of attracted investments with a view to the growth of production in priority industries and agriculture, to increase export potential through increase of production and supply of high value-added products demanded in export markets, as well as to ensure employment for the wider population.

To do this, the executive officers received instructions to fundamentally revise the method to develop investment projects. The basis for identification of promising areas of investment activity should be a thorough analysis of the resources and infrastructure available in a particular area with the results being the basis for the determination of 'growth point' and 'drivers' for the development of every district (city).

Furthermore, the identified areas provided the target parameters of production and export, disclosed existing problems, which could hinder their achievement, as well as selected algorithms for their solution.

This approach enabled adequate assessment of the profitability and economic return from the investment projects, increase in the impact of investment activities on the social and economic development of the region, as well as human wellbeing growth.

The work of the Working Group resulted in a preliminary package of 1,280 investment projects totaling UZS 9.8 trillion, including 707 projects worth UZS 5.0 trillion to be implemented by the end of this year. Generally speaking, the implementation of this package of projects will provide more than 17 thousand jobs in the region by the end of this year.

The attendees paid particular attention to public employment through establishment of cooperation ties with the manufacturing facilities and creation of opportunities for domestic labor in such areas as beekeeping, animal breeding, poultry farming, silkworm production, and the production of knitwear and clothing. Here, 120 investment projects worth UZS 128 billion were developed.

The heads of industries, commercial banks, and local authorities participated in a targeted discussion on the specific application of the new approach in terms of investment projects developed and proposed for implementation, comprehensively reviewed their advantages and disadvantage, as well as received instructions to revise individual projects and consider alternative investment initiatives. The new method is expected to be systemically applied in other regions of the Republic.

Following the results of the Working Group activity, the relevant heads of ministries, departments, sectoral economic associations, and local authorities received specific instructions to accelerate the implementation of the proposals for the development of the region and new investment projects, including approval of implemention schedules that contain information on specific activities to be completed, deadlines, as well as the agencies responsible for their implementation. There were measures taken to create mechanisms for effective monitoring of the progress within each project, as well as for the support of regional business entities.