On Wednesday the President of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov received the Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Robert Blake, National News Agency of Uzbekistan (UzA) reports.

During the meeting, the President noted that thanks to the efforts of both sides the Uzbek-American relations have a stable and long-term character, and the fruitful bilateral cooperation between Uzbekistan and the United States at the international level as well as between representatives of business, scientific and educational sectors, and civil society is sequentially developing on the basis of mutual respect and interests.

Robert Blake, in turn, confirmed the intention of the United States to continue working together in order to enhance the multidimensional cooperation in various fields.

The parties exchanged their views on the topical issues of regional and of international policy, first of of all those related to the current situation in Afghanistan.

As reported before, on Wednesday, Foreign Minister of Uzbekistan Abdulaziz Kamilov discussed with the U.S. Assistant Secretary the schedule of the upcoming consultations between the foreign ministries, meetings of representatives of business circles of the two countries and other bilateral contacts at various levels.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) bought the Uzbek Ipak Yuli Bank's additional shares worth 6.9 billion soum and became its full shareholder with a 13.56 percent stake in the authorized capital, the press service of the Uzbek bank said.

The Ipak Yuli Bank registered an additional issue of shares with a total volume of 6.9 billion soum in late March, planning to increase its authorized capital to 50.9 billion soum. In total, the issue prospectus included 69 million of ordinary shares with par value of 100 soum each.

The entire volume of the additional issue was intended to one investor, the ADB. The deal amounted to over $3.4 million.

The Ipak Yuli Bank's shares are owned by thousands of shareholders, including legal entities and individuals, the largest of which is the national company of export-import insurance, UzbekInvest (nearly 18 percent).

The non-state bank was established in 1990. The bank has a branched structure of mini-banks, express centers, branch offices in Tashkent and several regions of Uzbekistan.

The ADB has been cooperating with the Ipak Yuli Bank since 2006, providing the bank with loans for small business development projects. To date, Ipak Yuli has spent over $11 million of ADB loan funds, directing them to credit small and private business entities.

The deal was the first investment in the share capital of a commercial bank in Central Asia, concluded by the ADB's Department of Private Sector Operations.

The investment in the authorized capital of the Ipak Yuli Bank will facilitate the implementation of international banking standards and best international practices as well as strengthen the capital adequacy for the rapidly growing financial institution.

Uzbekistan became the member of the ADB in 1995. As of April 2013, the ADB approved allocation to Uzbekistan of about $ 4.5 billion to implement 48 investment projects worth more than $13.5 billion.

More than $ 120 billion of foreign investments were made in the Uzbek economy since independence. Over 50 percent came from foreign direct investments, Uzbek Minister of Foreign Economic Relations, Investments and Trade Elyor Ganiev said at the sixth Tashkent International Investment Financial Forum today.

"The annual growth of foreign investments hits 20-25 percent," he said. "This stipulates a high level of attractiveness of the Uzbek economy and its possibilities."

He said that the total volume of attracted foreign investments hit more than $6 billion in 2012, of which about 80 percent falls to the share of foreign direct investments.

The minister said that large-scale structural institutional reforms have been conducted in Uzbekistan over the last years. As a result, the republic entered a phase of economic growth first among the CIS countries. It restored the pre-reform level of gross domestic product by 2000.

The government's efforts are directed primarily at creating an effective and efficient institutional framework of a market economy, system reforming and liberalization of the economy, further modernization of industries, the development of trade and economic relations with various world countries.

The Uzbek economy has doubled in the past 12 years thanks to the consistent implementation of the Uzbek model of reforms.

A stable macro-economic stability and a balance of internal and external sectors were reached. This was reflected in such areas as balancing the state budget, which has been run with a surplus since 2005, the sustainability of external positions, characterized by stable positive balance of trade and balance of payments and the progressive rise in foreign exchange reserves.

The ongoing structural reforms create conditions for sustained high rates of Uzbek economic growth - more than 8 percent a year for the last seven years. The share of industry in the economy of the country has increased from 17 percent to 26 percent from 2000 to 2012. On average, the level of investments in the economy annually hits at least 20 percent of GDP, the share of small and private business in GDP exceeded 50 percent.

The population's cash income is increasing by 22-24 percent a year, stimulating domestic demand for various types of goods and services.

The high rates of economic growth, the ongoing development of industry, agriculture, the private sector are confirmed by independent experts, including the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank and other reputable financial institutions. According to their forecasts, the high growth rates of the Uzbek economy will be preserved at the level of 7-8 percent annually for the next 5-10 years.

Uzbekistan's investment capacity is estimated at tens of millions of dollars annually, he added.

"Your participation in the forum demonstrates your willingness to cooperate," the minister said, referring to the foreign participants of the forum.