London Business Forum reveals investment opportunities in Uzbekistan

A business forum dedicated to the investment and trade-economic potential of Uzbekistan was held in London, the correspondent of ‘‘Dunyo’’ news agency reports.

It was attended by more than 120 representatives of leading UK companies. Among them were such companies as ‘‘Shell’’, ‘‘British Petroleum’’, ‘‘Glencore’’, ‘‘JCB’’, ‘‘Lloyds’’, ‘‘WOOD&Co.’’, ‘‘Barclays’’, ‘‘Rio Tinto’’, ‘‘HSBC’’, ‘‘Weir Group’’, ‘‘Hinduja’’, ‘‘Unilever’’, ‘‘AstraZeneca’’, ‘‘Linde’’, ‘‘Renaissance Capital’’, ‘‘PwC’’, ‘‘CBRE’’, ‘‘Sturgeon Capital’’, ‘‘TheCityUK’’, ‘‘LSE’’, ‘‘Delphos’’, ‘‘JP Morgan UK’’, ‘‘White&Case’’, ‘‘Deutsche Bank UK’’, ‘‘Gold Atlantic’’ and others.

Participants were provided with information on the measures implemented to support national economic development, opportunities created for foreign investors and their legal protection, and a presentation on the investment climate of Uzbekistan.

The British side was offered over 10 specific investment projects in the areas of renewable energy, chemical industry, metallurgy, development of metal deposits, electrical engineering, pharmaceuticals, food industry and production of synthetic fibers.

During his speech, our compatriot and partner, leading international law firm “Fieldfisher” Nodir Sidikov emphasized that the policy of openness pursued by Uzbekistan, as well as socio-economic reforms, including the introduced preferential tax and customs systems, create favorable conditions and open up new prospects for foreign investors.

Representative of the company ‘‘Export Certification Limited’’ Rob Grinnall noted that the interest of British business in Uzbekistan is growing. Thanks to reforms and an improved investment climate, Uzbekistan is becoming an increasingly attractive platform for British companies wishing to expand their presence in new markets.

The head of ‘‘Morgan Allen Associates’’ Stefano Falciani said that currently there are huge opportunities for establishing business cooperation with Uzbekistan in various sectors.

It was noted that the increasing volumes of mutual trade and investment clearly demonstrate the great interest of the British business community in building up economic ties with Uzbekistan.

Also, within the framework of the forum, separate negotiations were held with the heads of British companies, meetings in the ‘‘G2B’’ and ‘‘B2B’’ formats to discuss specific investment and infrastructure projects.

The participants of the event noted that in recent years the investment climate in Uzbekistan has significantly improved and the interest of international companies in doing business in our country is growing. In this context, a number of companies informed about their intention to participate in the work of the business forum within the framework of the meeting of the Uzbek-British Council on Trade and Industry (UBTIC), which is planned to be held in November next year in Tashkent.