TASHKENT (TCA) — On November 19-21, Tashkent is hosting the first International Investment Forum in Tourism Sphere, which brought together more than 300 participants from 48 countries. These are investors, representatives of international financial institutions and organizations, experts of tourism industry, heads of large domestic and foreign companies, the Jahon information agency reports.
The forum is organized by the State Committee for Tourism Development, the State Investment Committee, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Uzbekistan, and diplomatic missions of Uzbekistan abroad.
Opening the forum, Deputy Prime Minister of Uzbekistan Aziz Abdukhakimov said that Uzbekistan is one of the safest countries for tourists and its people are distinguished by their hospitality. The government of the country pays special attention to further development of the tourism sector, raising it to a higher qualitative level. Tourism is becoming one of the strategic directions of the country’s development, and this is already yielding results. It is expected that the number of foreign visitors by the end of the year will exceed five million.
The forum is held in the format of three sessions – attracting investment in hotel business, entertainment tourism and logistics, and in smart tourism. 500 investment projects will be presented, including free tourism zones Charvak, Samarkand city, Qadimiy Bukhoro, small tourism zones in Surkhandarya region, as well as Olmazor City and Farg’ona yo’li projects of the city of Tashkent, hotel and shopping complexes, resort zones, health centers, parks, restaurants, and agro-tourist campings.
On November 20, B2B and B2G meetings will be held. On the third day of the forum, November 21, guests of the country will visit Samarkand. If investors are interested in a particular project, the program of the forum provides for visits to the regions of Uzbekistan.
Following the forum, it is planned to sign agreements and memorandums on cooperation between investors and local authorities.