On 13 December 2007 AmCham held its December monthly meeting at the Hotel Intercontinental. Guest speakers for the event were representatives of Honorary Member of AmCham  United Nations Development Programme in Uzbekistan  Fikret Akcura, UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative and Bakhodur Eshonov, Head of UNDP Economic Governance Unit. The topic of the meeting included an overview of the Welfare Improvement Strategy of Uzbekistan (WIS), adopted by the Government of Uzbekistan in August 2007.

The WIS identifies the main aims and measures for accelerating economic growth and improving the well-being of the population for the period 2008-2010. It is expected that the WIS will promote the coordinated implementation of national and sector development programs and plans aimed at promoting sustainable economic growth and enhancing the living standards of the population. The WIS document has been developed by Inter-agency council and Sectoral working groups, including representatives of ministries and agencies of Uzbekistan, national policy analysis centers, international financial institutions, private sector and civil society. UNDP, WB and ADB have been supporting the WIS formulation process during 2006-2007, providing the Government and other stakeholders with technical assistance and policy advice.

At the meeting, guest speakers highlighted major features of the WIS in terms of interest for people doing business in the country, as well as their possible involvement into WIS process. Private sector development is one of the main factors of successful implementation of WIS' objectives and following long term development strategy. As it was mentioned by Mr. Akcura, “…WIS considers the private sector (private/foreign investment) as the main engine for economic growth and productive employment generation”.

During the meeting, such issues as inflation, tax burden, exchange rate and trade policies, regulatory procedures and private property rights, corporate governance, public-private partnership, infrastructure, sectoral policies, knowledge and innovations covered in the WIS and concerning private sector development have been presented and widely discussed. For example, important tendency mentioned into the context of WIS document is intensification of public-private partnerships on “build-operate-transfer” and “build-operate” basis. This form of partnership between two sectors encourages the Government to grant the private sector the right to build, finance and manage infrastructural and social facilities on commercial basis, but under certain, preliminary agreed conditions. It allows providing these services more cost-effectively, raise quality and provide additional opportunities for private investment.

As well, the WIS intends to move from export- to investment- led growth that assumes considerable efforts and incentives within investment policy and business climate to stimulate public and private investment. It must also be mentioned that the Government plans to considerably decrease investment into business projects concentrating on infrastructure, health and education providing much more room for private investment.  Thus, public investment should become the catalyst for the growth of private one.
At the same time investment policy, as well as some other related policies, should be tailored to encourage both large and small businesses using new technologies and high-tech equipment. This will be achieved through various tax and customs incentives, special programs in education, R&D, ICT, financial sector and etc. to transfer Uzbekistan into technologically developed producer of a wide range of export commodities and services.

As noted by the participants, concluding the meeting, it is extremely important to build a network of development and private sector partners around WIS to assist the Government in implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the Strategy. Involvement of private sector, and particularly foreign businesses operating in Uzbekistan, can bring valuable expertise and insights in monitoring and evaluation of investment climate and private sector development policies.

Meeting materials, as well as the text of the WIS may be downloaded at the official web-site of the Strategy www.wis.uz.