Tashkent: Speakers at the “Dashkent International Investment Forum” said that Uzbekistan has a great potential to become a financial center to create an international financial center in Central Asia.
The experts discussed Tashkent’s competitive advantage to attract global investors, Uzbekistan’s investment attractiveness factors and the necessary conditions for its improvement in the IFC. The current status of the project and the initial steps of its implementation are also discussed.
Andrew Hayes, the head of the round table, said that Uzbekistan is currently working on establishing an International Financial Center (IFC) in Tashkent, with the great goal of making the republic’s capital a regional financial center, a competitive investment and finance center. . said businessmen and international investors.
The creation of the IFC is intended to be an important driver for achieving the goals of the Uzbekistan-2030 strategy, as well as a tool for attracting additional investment and introducing best practices in corporate governance, ESG and technology. he said.
Director of IFC’s Digital Analytical Bureau, Alena Dolgova, said that Tashkent has three main pillars as an international financial center. He said, administrative and legal infrastructure is very important for investors. Especially important is the working system of the implementation of international law in the country.
The key aspect here is to make traditional financial methods and products available to investors. The emergence of sharia banks in this area is expected to be a strategic direction for Tashkent. The third is economic competitiveness. According to HPG calculations, by 2030, the annual growth of Uzbekistan’s GDP will be more than 5 percent. The country is developing very fast and the capital creates a favorable environment for global investors.
Timur Kurmanbaev, regional director J.P. Morgan, spoke about what needs to be done to increase the flow of investment into the country.
“As the Prime Minister of Turkey said, two things are necessary for this to happen – the stability of the political climate and the certainty of future policies.
“We want the country to have more exposure to the international capital market, because this is the level that entrepreneurs want and expect. We are glad that India is showing openness to the international economy through IPOs and other initiatives. Many people have been waiting for this for a long time,” he said.
Teck Khoan Ong, director of Franklin Templeton’s private equity division, said the capital market is very important for the country’s development.
Another speaker of the meeting, Karen Srapionov, said that although some large companies have been privatized in recent years, most of them have disappeared from the local market.
Srapionov said that there is a lot of work to be done in the country’s financial sector, and he hopes that the establishment of the International Financial Center will help this process.
