On February 13th Uzbekistan’s president Shavkat Mirziyoyev chaired a government meeting to review strategic reforms planned for this year in five key areas — transport, urbanization and town planning, entrepreneurship, agriculture, and energy.
The government’s plan “Uzbekistan-2030” aims to increase the country’s gross domestic product to $160bn and annual per capita income to $4,000 by 2030, turning Uzbekistan into an upper-middle income country.
Transport is seen as a key part of economic development. The landlocked Uzbekistan needs to diversify its air and railway routes. Officials reported that last year six airlines were created and 28 new aircraft were purchased, while the private sector was involved in the management of Samarkand International Airport. Mr Mirziyoyev gave orders to accelerate the transformation of the companies Uzbekistan Airports and Uzbekistan Airways, and to continue transferring airports to the private sector.
In the next seven years, the number of cities and districts with a population of more than 300,000 people is projected to increase from the current 13 to 28. Due to the lack of general plans, some cities and towns are expanding only by increasing their area, which leads to higher infrastructure costs and shrinking agricultural land areas. Therefore there is a pressing need to develop a new law on urbanization.
The meeting also considered the issue of transferring certain other functions of the state to the private sector, including landscaping and management of free economic zones.
Mr Mirziyoyev emphasized the need to create reliable guarantees for investors. “In 2024 we should complete all processes of building the foundation of a market economy and in 2025 bring the national economy to a completely new level of quality,” he commented.
