President criticizes tardiness in economic sector

President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, on May 2, held a meeting on the issues of deep processing of raw materials and expanding the production of export-oriented products.

Industry is one of the drivers of economic development. In recent years, in our country, special attention is paid to the industrial complex, high-tech factories, technology parks, manufacturing enterprises have been commissioned. In 2018, the growth of value added in the production of manufactured goods for the first time exceeded 10 percent.

However, much work remains to be done in the field of industrial diversification. For example, 69 percent of industrial production comes from raw materials or primary processing. The export of non-ferrous metals, energy and fresh fruit is 52 percent. All this testifies to the fact that in the economy raw materials still prevail over finished products.

The meeting addressed the issues of increasing the number of enterprises creating high added value and exporting finished products, efficient use of existing potential and raw materials.

Shavkat Mirziyoyev criticized the lack of production of goods similar to imported, low level of processing of raw materials. In particular, only 25 percent of the mined copper is processed, 80 percent of zinc, 99 percent of molybdenum and 88 percent of silk are exported in unprocessed form.

In this regard, at the meeting, the Ministry of Economy and Industry, the Ministry of Agriculture, the State Committee on Geology was entrusted with drawing up a list of products, the industrial production of which will be established in 2019-2021, based on the existing raw material base and structure of imports.

The head of state noted the need to expand the production of industrial everyday goods and the development of cooperation. It was stated that systematic work on the calculation of needs based on a comparison of manufactured and imported industrial products was not established. It was entrusted to form additional projects for the production of consumer goods in small industrial zones.

An important factor in the development of industries is government support. In accordance with the decree of the President "On measures for further development of industrial cooperation and expansion of the production of marketable products" of May 1, a mechanism to support domestic industrial producers through government procurement is being introduced.

It was noted that the share of transportation services in the cost of production remains high. In the world, this figure does not exceed 8-9 percent. Product certification is also important for export.

In this regard, instructions are given to reduce the cost of transportation services, to bring technical characteristics and product quality in line with the requirements of foreign markets. Special attention is paid to improving the skills of specialists involved in production and in the field of certification.

Priorities were identified for the issues discussed at the meeting.