UzDaily  

August 12, 2014

President of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov will pay a visit to China next week, a Spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China Qin Gang said on Tuesday.

During briefing in Beijing Qin Gang stated that at the invitation of President of China Xi Jinping, President Islam Karimov of Uzbekistan will pay a state visit to China from 19 to 20 August.

At the same time, he did not disclose details of upcoming visit of the Uzbek leader to China.

It is worth mentioning that President of China Xi Jinping paid a state visit to Uzbekistan in September 2013.

China is one of the largest trade partners of Uzbekistan. In last six years, the volume of bilateral trade rose six times and reached US$5.2 billion in 2013.

In the first six months of 2014, the trade turnover between Uzbekistan and China made up US$2.163 billion.

Trend  

August 12, 2014

Starting from October 1, 2014 investment proposals and passports of the projects involving foreign investment and loans will be coordinated in the bodies of state administration in E-form through the system of "Unified electronic database of investment proposals" of the Ministry of Foreign Economic Relations, Investments and Trade of Uzbekistan.

The decree of the Cabinet of Ministers "On measures to improve the mechanism of coordination of promising investment proposals and the process of attracting of foreign investments and loans" states this.

"The document was adopted in order to improve the efficiency of the process of attracting foreign investments and loans by the introduction of modern information and communication technologies," the preamble of the document says.

The government also approved a scheme of interaction between project proponents and authorized governmental bodies via a unified electronic database in the process of coordination of investment proposals and project certificates, which provides the attraction of foreign investments and loans.

According to the scheme, project proponents must fill in the special form of investment proposal and passport project in a unified electronic database. Projects are sent to the ministries and agencies for approval.

Approved projects will be published on the website of the "Uzinfoinvest" agency.

In 2013, the volume of completed foreign investments in Uzbekistan increased by 19 percent, compared to a 3.02 billion $ increase in 2012, official statistics say. The volume of foreign investments under the guarantee of the government amounted to $ 820 million (1.6 times), while the volume of direct investments made up $ 2.2 billion (a nine percent increase).

In 2014, Uzbekistan plans to draw foreign funds in the amount of $ 3.9 billion on 166 investment projects. In particular, 1,214 billion on 74 projects at the expense of investments guaranteed by the government, and 2.67 billion dollars on 92 projects at the expense of direct foreign investments are planned to draw.

Azernews  

August 13, 2014

China and Uzbekistan have discussed the prospects of further cooperation in the economy, oil and gas and energy fields on August 12.

The discussions were held at a meeting of the sub-committee on cooperation in the energy sector of the Uzbek-Chinese Intergovernmental Cooperation Committee in Uzbekistan's capital Tashkent.

The representatives of the two countries also discussed further development and strengthening of bilateral relations and implementation of the mutually beneficial joint projects in the energy sector.

The meeting was attended by the ministers and heads of departments and companies of Uzbekistan and China who were responsible in such areas as external economic relations, banking and financial, economic, oil and gas, energy, and geology.

Uzbekistan and China are developing cooperation in oil, gas, petrochemical, chemical and mining industries, in the fields of transport and logistics, the manufacturing industry, telecommunications, production of electrical technology and modern construction materials, as well as in a number of other sectors.

China is one of the largest trade partners of Uzbekistan. The trade volume between the two countries has increased by almost 6 times for the past 6 years and amounted to $5.2 billion in 2013. This figure stood at $2.163 billion in the first half of 2014.

Some 482 joint ventures with Chinese capital, as well as the representative offices of more than seventy Chinese companies are operating in Uzbekistan.

Uzbekistan and China are implementing the projects in the energy sector in the amount of $2.8 billion. Some $2.5 billion or 90 percent of this amount are direct investments.

The Chinese companies are involved in the projects of exploration and exploitation of deposits of hydrocarbons, uranium and other precious materials, as well as gas chemical complex in Mubarek and other high-tech industries in Uzbekistan.

UN ESCAP  

August 6, 2014

[Extract.  Read full report here]

The Economic and Social Survey of Asia and the Pacific is the oldest and most comprehensive annual review of economic and social development in Asia and the Pacific. This flagship publication of ESCAP outlines policies to sustain dynamic growth and to make it inclusive such as unlocking fiscal space to finance higher productive government spending and enhancing regional connectivity through stronger institutional coordination across the region...

[Extract.  Read full report here]