Within a period from April 28 to May 2 this year, the Republican Commission for Export Potential Development in regions and industries visited Andijan, Namangan and Fergana regions. It implemented a monitoring of progress in instructions on emergency support of entrepreneurs of these regions provided during previous visits of the Commissions.

The analysis comprehensively examined measures taken by responsible heads of ministries, departments, commercial banks, local authorities and diplomatic missions abroad to address existing concerns of entrepreneurs, timeliness of their effectuation, as well as the result, which involves uninterrupted production, and foreign trade of business entities in these regions.

The members of the Commission monitored operation of 1,777 entrepreneurs implementing investment projects, where 705 ones faced problems in production and foreign trade due to consequences of coronavirus infection. Therefrom, 247 entrepreneurs required extension of interest payments amounted to UZS 494.7 billion on available loans, 194 – needed additional lending resources amounted to UZS 630.1 billion to replenish working capital, 72 – required land plots, buildings and structures, 55 entrepreneurs faced  delays in the supply and installation of production equipment, 39 – needed engineering services, 31 – faced problems in sending foreign specialists to Uzbekistan to install production machinery. The heads of relevant ministries, departments, local authorities, commercial banks and diplomatic missions abroad put efforts to resolve the above concerns.

There also was an analysis of 671 exporting enterprises, which identified 257 pressing concerns: 113 entrepreneurs needed additional lending resources amounted to UZS 494.7 billion to replenish working capital, 56 – required extension of interest payments amounted to UZS 936 billion on existing loans, 21 - experienced difficulties in obtaining international certificates, 14 – required accelerated reimbursement of previously accrued VAT amounted to UZS 83.9 billion, and 13 – faced problems with connection to engineering services.

The Commission also developed and implemented effective non-standard solutions supporting stable production and export activities of entrepreneurs. Regular air-freight operations were established to supply domestic fruits and vegetables from the regions of the Republic, including Andijan, Namangan and Fergana regions to China, Russia, Korea, the United Arab Emirates, Great Britain and other countries. The Commission also developed and launched a program to expand holding capacity for fresh fruits and vegetables through acceleration of construction of additional storage facilities and installation of modern refrigeration equipment. It calculated and elaborated measures to redistribute the excess of natural gas generated due to external economic factors associated with the coronavirus pandemic to the production needs of existing domestic enterprises that currently face an urgent need for uninterrupted gas supply, i.e. manufacture of construction materials, textile enterprises and greenhouses.

Following the work, the Commission emphasized the need to adopt scheme ща continuous interaction with entrepreneurs and exporters to quickly respond to emerging concerns via coordinated operation of responsible structures. Heads of ministries, departments, industry associations, commercial banks and diplomatic missions abroad received targeted instructions for further work with entrepreneurs of Andijan, Namangan and Fergana regions.