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On February 22, 2012, at the invitation of the U.S. Department of State, the American-Uzbekistan Chamber of Commerce (AUCC) and its members participated in the South and Central Asian Affairs' session of the Global Business Conference. Led by the U.S. Department of State, the Global Business Conference was an interactive forum for U.S. diplomats and top U.S. business executives to discuss ways of strengthening a nexus between the U.S. embassies and American companies in order to increase U.S. companies' competitiveness internationally.
In the view of the meeting's participants, understanding the needs of the U.S. businesses, the opportunities and the challenges that they face when operating in a foreign environment are essential for effectively reviving the U.S. manufacturing sector, creating jobs domestically and providing U.S. exporters with adequate financial and regulatory resources and tools that make foreign buyers be more attracted to "Made in America" brands.
Among the critical issues faced by U.S. companies overseas are the capability of U.S. financial institutions to ease access to financing to U.S. manufacturers and concerns about growing unfair competition from some foreign manufacturers which get subsidies from their respective governments in order to offer financially affordable packages to their buyers and clients. While each foreign market has a specific set of issues indigenous to their social and political environments, there was a consensus among the participants that such challenges can be circumvented through a close interagency partnership involving the U.S. private sector, U.S. embassies and U.S. government agencies charged with promotion and development of trade and commerce. In this regard, a particular credit was given to the U.S. diplomatic staff that has proven to be the backbone of the American companies' commercial successes outside of the domestic market.
The American-Uzbekistan Chamber of Commerce applauds the efforts of the U.S. Department of State in initiating the dialogue between the state and the private sector, invoking the interests of the U.S. Government to the needs of the U.S. exports and addressing the challenges of doing business overseas through the exceptional professionalism and expertise of their top diplomatic envoys. The AUCC and its members stand ready to continue providing the U.S. Government with the knowledge, experience and solutions that can increase U.S. companies' competitive edge and reinforce their ability to be a significant player in Uzbekistan and the Central Asia region in general. | 
