On September 25, President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev took part in the inaugural session of the IX annual Board of Governors meeting of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, held in the city of Samarkand.
The main theme of the summit is “Building sustainable infrastructure for all”. The agenda includes current issues of the global economy and finance, strategic programs and plans for infrastructure development in Asia and other regions of the world.
The Head of our State delivered a welcoming speech.
– The annual meeting of the Board of Governors of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank is being held in our region for the first time. We consider the choice of Uzbekistan as a vivid example of the highest level of our cooperation based on mutual respect and trust, – said Shavkat Mirziyoyev.
The Leader of Uzbekistan emphasized that the complex geopolitical situation in the world currently persists, instability in the global economy is increasing, there is a shortage of food and energy resources, and environmental problems are worsening.
A quarter of the planet’s population faces problems accessing clean drinking water, and about 800 million people live in extreme poverty.
Traditional supply chains for products are disrupted, which has led to higher prices for raw materials and consumer goods.
All this sharply increases the load on infrastructure and becomes an obstacle to economic development.
Until 2030, the creation of new infrastructure in the world will require 15 trillion dollars of investment, while the flow of foreign investment over the past 2 years has been decreasing by 10% per year, and financial resources have doubled in price.
In such conditions, the role of international financial organizations is increasing.
It was especially noted that the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, with a current project portfolio of $55 billion, has become one of the leading financial institutions in a short period of time.
The head of our state separately focused on the course of irreversible reforms and transformations being carried out in New Uzbekistan.
It was noted that special attention is paid to liberalizing the economy, raising the standard of living and incomes of the population. Priority areas for interaction with international financial institutions, including the AIIB, in achieving these goals were identified.
Primarily, implementation of a “multidimensional” poverty reduction program through active support for entrepreneurship, creating new jobs, increasing people’s sources of income, expanding the population’s access to quality education and medicine, improving housing conditions, strengthening social protection, and creating infrastructure networks in hard-to-reach areas were covered.
It was proposed to identify human capital development projects as a promising area of cooperation.
Taking into account the main theme of the Forum, the Head of our state highlighted the extensive experience of cooperation with international financial organizations in the field of creating sustainable infrastructure.
Our country has adopted a Program for the implementation of public-private partnership projects worth 30 billion dollars until 2030.
In particular, projects will be implemented to build toll roads Tashkent-Samarkand and Tashkent-Andijan, high-speed railway service Tashkent-Samarkand, Samarkand-Navoi-Bukhara, modernization of 6 international airports and other important projects.
It was especially noted that cooperation has begun with the AIIB on the development of medium-sized cities and improvement of infrastructure in rural areas.
Another priority area is the accelerated development of the “green” economy. Uzbekistan has a goal to increase the share of “green” energy to 40 percent by 2030.
Plans for the coming years include the construction of solar, wind and hydroelectric power plants, infrastructure and networks.
It is also envisaged to create large “green” data centers. In addition, a market for “green” certificates will be formed through renewable energy sources.
The Head of our State separately noted the great work aimed at transforming Central Asia into a major exporter of “green” energy. One example is the construction of the Trans-Caspian Energy Bridge.
It was proposed to implement the Green Energy Development Program in Central Asia in partnership with the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank.
Attention was also drawn to the growing need for the implementation of large regional infrastructure projects.
A striking example is the construction of the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway.
At the same time, problems of food security and water resource shortages are becoming especially acute in Central Asia.
The Leader of our country put forward an initiative to organize, in cooperation with the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, a Regional Center for the Widespread Introduction of Water-Saving Technologies.
The President highly appreciated the contribution of the AIIB to Uzbekistan’s achievement of sustainable development goals. Today, the portfolio of joint projects exceeds 3 billion dollars, covering such areas as infrastructure, energy, transport, water supply, and support for the private sector. An agreement was reached to implement an updated program worth $4 billion.
– In the next two days, the Bank’s managers will face such important tasks as finding solutions to the most important global and regional problems based on modern approaches, discussing new projects and programs. The decisions that will be made will directly affect the daily lives of more than 6 billion people living in the Bank’s member countries, – noted Shavkat Mirziyoyev in conclusion and wished success for the activities of the summit.