The second Tashkent International Investment Forum is taking place in the capital at the Congress Hall Tashkent City on 27-28 April, with over 30 discussion meetings of experts, including panel sessions, roundtables, and B2B negotiations.

On the first day of the Forum, one of the topics was Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance in Business, which was covered by the panel session titled "ESG - Business Transformation".

ESG (Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance) is a set of company performance standards that investors use to test potential investments. The three ESG principles are: serious consideration of the environment, social responsibility and high-quality corporate governance.

The ESG agenda in Uzbekistan is just beginning to gain strength and is mostly applied to large companies preparing for an IPO (first public offering of a company's shares on a stock exchange). At the same time, small business entities (SMEs) are not fully aware of the benefits of ESG.

The speakers were Matilda Dimovska, UNDP Permanent Representative, Rashid Pirmatov, Chairman of the Management Board of Uzmetkombinat, Gabit Musrepov, Partner of KPMG, Charlie Jack partner from  Hudson Sandler LLP, Adalyat Abdumanapova, Corporate Governance Lead  in Central Asia at IFC, and Malika Sharipova, Founder and Director of CARE CSR.

Konstantin Polunin, Partner and Director of Boston Consulting Group, acted as moderator.

Matilda Dimovska, UNDP Resident Representative, in her speech expressed her sincere gratitude to the Uzbek community for their solidarity in the development of the ESG project.

"Uzbekistan is beginning to move towards global responsibility," Dimovska stressed. She noted that for ESG development in our country, the assistance of private sector is indispensable, it is obligatory to be a partner in climate-related issues. Uzbekistan is becoming more involved in green economy with the ESG project.

"ESG is a broad topic. We are now seeing a misunderstanding of the concept of ESG on the part of the business. Many businessmen treat ESG as separate components. They plant trees and think they are part of a project.

But ESG is a comprehensive project," said Adalyat Abdumanapova, Head of Corporate Governance in Central Asia at IFC.

She also mentioned three main elements of ESG. The first one is risks. For the banks - credit risks, for investors - investment risks. The second is the impact on the environment and society. The third big area is opportunities.

Also, during the panel session Adalyat Abdumanapova, Head of Corporate Governance in Central Asia, IFC, was asked a question about where to start moving towards ESG. In her opinion, first steps should be made in the area of corporate governance. 

Experts actively discussed ESG development in Uzbekistan.

- The ESG agenda is already here, Partner of KPMG, Gabit Musrepov said confidently about Uzbekistan. - I think that given the current dynamics, in the next year or two it will be even more developed.

Malika Sharipova, director of CARE CSR, also expressed her opinion on this issue:

- Five years ago, business in Uzbekistan was not ready for the introduction of social practices. But now the republic is opening up more and more to the world.

"I've seen companies change over the years by implementing ESG, moving away from forced labour, improving the working environment. I am glad to recognise that such work is also being done in Uzbekistan," said Malika Sharipova.

Besides, she talked about differences between CSR (corporate social responsibility) and ESG. So, CSR is a voluntary action on the part of business. It can be in the form of donation or organisation of volunteer movement. ESG is a more complex and comprehensive project.

One of the important elements of ESG is social responsibility.

- If the people who work in the companies are healthy, happy and involved in the company’s development, it is a demonstration that ESG works. The letter 'S' becomes central and basic," stressed Konstantin Polunin.

He noted the current social problem of informal employment and cited statistics showing that informal employment in developing countries is 50 per cent, whereas in developed countries it is 20 per cent.