By Diplomacy Journal Lee Kap-soo

 

On September 25, the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev attended the inaugural session of the Ninth Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, in Samarkand.

The summit’s main theme is “Building Resilient Infrastructure for All”. The agenda included current issues of the global economy and finance, strategic programs, and plans for infrastructure development in Asia and other regions of the world.

 

 

The President of Uzbekistan addressed the event:

 

Your Excellency Jin Liqun!
Honorable participants of the meeting!
Ladies and Gentlemen!

I am very pleased to meet you in Uzbekistan, in the ancient and eternally young city of Samarkand.
The Ninth Annual Meeting of the Board of Directors of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank is being held for the first time in our region. We believe that the choice of Uzbekistan for this prestigious conference is a good example of our cooperation based on mutual respect and trust.

Indeed, in recent years, the New Uzbekistan has become an international platform for dialogue to discuss and find effective solutions to important global and regional issues.

Some 2,000 representatives from more than 100 countries around the world are attending our conference today. You will learn about our country’s rapid reforms, favorable investment and business environment, and outline new directions of mutually beneficial cooperation.

I believe that the city of Samarkand, which embodies the rich history and modern image of our country, will leave an unforgettable impression on you.

Dear participants of the conference!
As we all know, the tense situation in the world has become an integral part of our daily lives. The complex geopolitical situation, global economic instability, the scarcity of food and energy resources, poverty and environmental problems are becoming increasingly acute.

For instance, the average global temperature was projected to rise by 1,5 degrees by 2040. However, we are seriously concerned that, on current trends, this could happen as early as 2030.

A quarter of the world’s population is facing the problem of clean drinking water. As climate change accelerates, food shortages have become a global threat. As a result, about 800 million people in the world live in extreme poverty.

Due to the growing conflicts in different regions, the traditional logistics routes are completely changing. Disruptions in the supply chains are driving up the prices of raw materials and consumer goods. All this will dramatically increase the pressure on the existing infrastructure and become a major obstacle to global economic growth.

According to experts, by 2030 the world needs $15 trillion investments for the new infrastructure. At the same time, the flow of foreign investments has been decreasing by 10 percent for the past two years, and the world’s financial resources have become expensive by almost two times. All of these make it difficult to achieve Sustainable Development Goals.

In such conditions, the role of international financial organizations in mitigating the consequences of global risks, ensuring sustainable growth and improving the living conditions of the population is increasing.

It is worth noting that the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank has become one of the most influential financial organizations not only in the region but also in the world, with a $55 billion portfolio of projects.

Dear friends!
In recent years, New Uzbekistan has rapidly implemented irreversible reforms and fundamental changes. We attach a particular importance to the liberalization of the economy and the improvement of the living standards as well as the well-being of our people.

Over the past period, the volume of our gross domestic product has doubled and for the first time exceeded $100 billion. In the next five years, we plan to increase this figure to $160 billion. The main goal is to join the ranks of upper-middle-income countries.

We have set ourselves ambitious targets in order to achieve these goals.

FIRST, we have succeeded in reducing poverty from 23% to 11% in just 4 years. This year, we aim to reduce it to 9%, and halve it by 2030.

At the core of our reforms is a prioritization of active support for entrepreneurship, creating more jobs and increasing income for our people in all sectors of economy.

At the same time, we are implementing a “multi-dimensional” poverty reduction program, which includes expanding the access to quality education and medical services, improving housing conditions, strengthening social protection, and building infrastructure networks in the most difficult areas.

Based on the advanced foreign practices we have developed our own model of poverty reduction at the grassroots level – the neighborhood (makhalla) scale.

It is no wonder that Mr. Abhijit Banerjee, Nobel Prize winner for Economics, recently stated: “The neighborhood system in Uzbekistan has its own unique recipe to pull every needy family out of poverty”.

SECOND, we see the development of human capital as a solid foundation for our country's stable and long-term economic growth. To that end, over the past 8 years, we have increased preschool enrolment from 27% to 74%. By constructing new schools, we have provided an additional 800 thousand school seats. The number of higher education institutions has surpassed 200, while enrolment has increased from 9% to 38%.

We aim to achieve at least 80% enrollment in preschool education in the next 3-4 years. For this purpose, kindergartens for 240 thousand children will be created in cooperation with the private sector.

Also, starting next year, we plan to open 100 new modern schools annually in all towns and villages based on public-private partnership. In the coming years, we will invest $2 billion into this.

We propose to designate projects in education as a new promising area of our cooperation with international financial organizations.

THIRD, it is estimated that annual demand for improvement of energy, water, transportation, IT and other infrastructure in Uzbekistan is equal to 10% of GDP. In this sense, we welcome that today's conference is held under the title “Creating Sustainable Infrastructure for All”.

We have gained a great deal of experience by working closely with the international financial institutions. As a result, the private sector is actively entering into these areas.

We have adopted a large-scale program for the implementation of public-private partnership projects worth $30 billion by 2030. In particular, projects for the construction of toll roads along the routes “Tashkent - Samarkand” and “Tashkent - Andijan”, as well as the construction of a new railroad for high-speed trains along the routes “Tashkent - Samarkand”, “Samarkand - Navoi - Bukhara”. The modernization of 6 international airports of the country will be carried out via public-private partnership.

In the next five years the management of electricity, water and gas distribution networks will be transferred to private operators. For example, more than 50 prestigious foreign companies have expressed interest in bidding for the management of electricity networks in Samarkand province, where the today’s conference is being held.

Moreover, annually we are building houses with more than 100 thousand apartments. For instance, we are implementing major projects to build “New Uzbekistan” satellite towns in our major cities, such as Tashkent, Samarkand, Namangan and Andijan, as well as the centers of other regions.

I would like to emphasize that in cooperation with the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank we have launched projects worth $200 million to develop medium-sized cities and $130 million to improve infrastructure in rural areas. I am confident that we will continue to expand such infrastructure projects with the Bank and our other partners.

FOURTH, we have prioritized the rapid development of a green economy and set ourselves a grand goal of achieving 40% green energy by 2030. In this regard, I would like to note the aim of Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank to allocate 50% of its portfolio to climate change projects by 2030 fully aligns with our objectives.
In major green energy projects implemented in Uzbekistan, the Bank is cooperating with prestigious foreign companies, creating new models in this field on a global level.

In the coming years, we will launch another 18-gigawatt solar and wind, 3-gigawatt hydroelectric, and 5-gigawatt power concentration capacity and invest $5 billion in electricity grids. We plan to create large “green” data centers though these projects. I believe this will be attractive projects for all international financial institutions.
At the same time, through renewable energy sources, the market of “green” certificates for $100 million a year will be formed and will become a new promising direction of cooperation with international financial organizations.

I would like to note that neighbouring countries have also started major projects on renewable energy. We are taking great steps to make Central Asia, which is a rich renewable energy sources, a major exporter of “green” energy into world energy markets in the coming years.

In this regard, I would like to emphasize that the project for the construction of the Transcaspian Energy Route has a great potential.

At this point, I propose to implement a Programme for the Development of “Green” Energy in Central Asia led by the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank.

FIFTH, the population of Central Asia today is more than 80 million. The region’s GDP is expected to reach $700 billion in the next five years.

There is an increasing demand for the implementation of large infrastructure projects in our region. The construction of the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway, which is currently underway, is a vivid example of such a major regional infrastructure project.

The issue of food security and water scarcity are becoming particularly acute in Central Asia. In this regard, Uzbekistan has developed its own strategy. We have launched major projects to save 15 billion cubic meters of water by increasing water efficiency up to 25 percent in the next five years.

Yet, the solution to the water issues requires the joint work of the states of the region and international financial organizations. Therefore, I would like to take the initiative of establishing a Regional Centre for the widespread introduction of water-saving technologies in collaboration with the AIIB. I think our neighbors will also support this initiative.

Dear Bank managers!
Uzbekistan highly appreciates the contribution of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank to the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals. Today, 15 projects worth $3 billion are being implemented with the Bank in the fields of infrastructure, energy, transport, water supply and sustainable development.

It is a pleasure to note that Uzbekistan has become one of the bank’s top 10 partners. For example, a project in cooperation with the bank worth $720 million to improve drinking water networks in the Bukhara region will provide clean drinking water for 1,5 million people.

Or, the electrification of the “Bukhara – Khiva” railway line will create the possibility to attract additional 1 million tourists in Khiva per year.

It should be noted that we have recently agreed with the Bank to implement projects worth $4 billion in the next three years.

I take this opportunity to once again express my deep gratitude to Mr. Jin Liqun, the President of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, the member states and managers of the Bank, who are implementing projects with us and supporting our wide scale reforms!

I wish great success to the team of the Bank on the way to achieving its goals!

I would like to express my special gratitutde to the representatives of the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the European Investment Bank and the large companies and investors, who attending today’s conference!

Dear participants of the conference!
In the next two days, Bank’s managers will deal with such responsible tasks as finding solutions to the important global and regional problems based on modern approaches, and discussing new projects and programs.
Your decisions will directly affect the daily lives of more than 6 billion people living in the Bank’s member states. I believe that in carrying out these enormous tasks you will use all your knowledge, rich experience and energy.

I wish you all sound health, happiness and success in your work in ancient Samarkand.

We look forward to our dear friends coming to Uzbekistan many times.

Thank you for your attention.