On June 7, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev chaired a meeting on the issues of industrial development and accelerating the management of foreign direct investment in the regions, the presidential press service said.
At the meeting, the work carried out in this direction was analyzed in the example of the Andijan region.
It was noted that the industry in this region is in need of diversification and is tied to two industries - automotive and textile production. They account for almost 60% of workers employed in the regional industry, as well as 83% of the products produced in Andijan. The level of industrial development of the Boz, Bulakbashi, Izbaskan, Kurgantepa, Markhamat, Pakhtaabad, Jalakuduk, Balikchi and Ulugnor districts is low.
In this densely populated region, there are 90 hectares of empty land and 63 thousand square meters of premises that have access to necessary infrastructure have been identified on 98 public facilities.
In accordance with the instructions given by the President on the effective use of such buildings and areas, organizing enterprises and workplaces on their basis, industrial diversification in districts, 236 new projects have been formed in the Andijan region with implementation period until 2022.
These projects envisage the creation over the next three years of almost 41,000 permanent jobs and development of foreign direct investment in the amount of $1 billion 87 million.
The head of the state noted that an investment fund will be created for development of industry and entrepreneurship in Fergana valley, which will not provide loans, but will participate in projects as a business partner. Special attention will be paid to projects capable of creating decent jobs and producing export-oriented products. According to preliminary calculations, these efforts will serve to create 10,000 new jobs in Andijan, Fergana and Namangan regions.
At the meeting, special attention was paid to issues of accounting state and non-state objects – empty or unused effectively, organizing enterprises on their basis and creating jobs.
Despite the provision of broad powers to utilize unused buildings and structures, local authorities and tax bodies were not able to achieve significant results in this direction. Presence of buildings and land area on 22,000 hectares, which have all the necessary infrastructure, has been indicated, but they are empty.
It was noted that during the five months of the current year, $1.6 billion was spent on regional projects, and almost $1 billion foreign direct investment - on industrial projects. However, these figures are less than planned, and in some areas, investment absorption does not reach even 35% of the annual forecast.
Reportedly, due to the unsatisfactory state of work on attracting and developing foreign direct investment in the Andijan region, deputy ministers for investment and foreign trade were appointed responsible for the relevant industries in the region. With the involvement of industrial associations, they will develop proposals for foreign investors to implement investment projects on empty sites and areas. In the future, these projects will be presented to investors with participation of ambassadors.
At the meeting, implementation of agreements reached by the leadership of administrations at places during their foreign trips was also touched upon. It was pointed out that development of investments in most of the agreements has already begun, but some agreements are still on paper.
