President Shavkat Mirziyoyev held an open dialogue with entrepreneurs in the city of Khiva and announced new initiatives in five priority areas aimed at taking business to a new level.
About 25 thousand entrepreneurs from all regions of the country, including through studios in the districts, participated in the dialogue.
The head of state congratulated the 1 million 200 thousand-strong business community, which contributes to strengthening the country's economic power, on Entrepreneurs' Day.
According to Shavkat Mirziyoyev, over the past five years, during open dialogues with entrepreneurs, solutions have been found to thousands of problems hindering business development. During this period, 84 laws and 861 decrees and resolutions were adopted.
"Why? To create conditions for our entrepreneurs, increase new jobs, and make our people prosperous right in their own neighborhood, without having to go far!" — said the President.
It was noted that over the past period, the loan portfolio allocated for business has almost tripled, reaching 450 trillion soums. Investments of enterprises in fixed capital have also tripled.
Also, despite the complex situation in the world, in the first half of this year Uzbekistan's economy grew by 8.5 percent.
Five directions for entrepreneurs
Based on the issues raised by business representatives, the President identified five priority directions for developing entrepreneurship.
The first direction — ensuring a sustainable growth trajectory for entrepreneurship
A new system for financing small and medium-sized businesses will be created.
Through the "Unified Digital Portal of Credit Services," an entrepreneur will be able to receive offers from banks with a single application. Those just starting a business will have the opportunity to obtain a loan of up to 5 billion soums online.
In addition, "Business Start," "Business Lift," and "Business Rise" programs will be introduced, tailored to each stage of business.
Under "Business Start," entrepreneurs will be taught to prepare project and credit documents and maintain reporting with the help of artificial intelligence. They will be provided with a ready-made business plan and an unsecured loan of up to 200 million soums.
"We will create a comprehensive system that does not just give an entrepreneur a loan, but supports him from his first step until he grows into a large business," — said the head of state.
To ease collateral requirements for small businesses, a "counter-guarantee" system will also be introduced. Under it, when obtaining a loan of up to 10 billion soums, it will be sufficient for the entrepreneur to find 25 percent collateral.
The second direction — expanding business opportunities in the regions
The advance payment for purchasing state assets will be reduced from 30 percent to 15 percent.
After an entrepreneur pays half of the asset's value, the remaining part can be paid in interest-free installments over 7 years.
Land plots put up for auction will be offered for sale in the form of a "ready package" with the necessary documents for construction.
It will be allowed to sell 2.5 thousand properties worth 9 trillion soums on banks' balance sheets at a discount, with no down payment and with interest-free installments.
"Bond industrial zones" will be established in certain parts of the Navoi, Jizzakh, Namangan, Urgut, and Khazorasp special economic zones.
The requirement of 100 percent advance payment for energy and gas will also be reviewed. For enterprises connected to the ASKUE and ASKUG systems and observing payment discipline, the advance payment will be set at 15 percent.
The third direction — artificial intelligence and new investments
The President emphasized that effective use of artificial intelligence will become an important competitive advantage for entrepreneurs.
"Today, whichever entrepreneur increases added value, increases productivity with the help of artificial intelligence, and works on costs, tomorrow's market will be his," — said Shavkat Mirziyoyev.
The program "For 10 thousand enterprises — an artificial intelligence partner" will be launched. Fifty percent of enterprises' costs for implementing artificial intelligence will be compensated.
Entrepreneurs will be given the opportunity to use a supercomputer free of charge when creating a model for a new product. At least 100 million dollars will be allocated for the first stage of the program.
In addition, an acceleration program will be established to prepare 50 large local enterprises for IPO every year.
Personnel training will become a mandatory component in large investment projects. Based on the experience in Urganch, the goal is to teach 1 million young people modern professions.
The fourth direction — exports and national brands
The "Export Navigator" system will be launched, providing comprehensive services to entrepreneurs at all stages of entering foreign markets.
A list of 100 products with high demand abroad will be formed, and market, tariff, and logistics solutions will be developed for them.
The production processes of 2 thousand enterprises will be adapted to the requirements of foreign markets.
Part of the costs related to entrepreneurs attracting foreign brandmakers, promoting national brands in foreign markets, and participating in marketplaces and international tenders will be covered.
At least 1 billion dollars will be allocated to the unified system of supporting exporters.
"Today, the struggle for markets in the world is intensifying day by day. In such a situation, an entrepreneur who has gone abroad should never feel alone," — said the President.
The fifth direction — reducing administrative pressure on business
The President emphasized that in bringing the economy out of the "shadow," it is important not to inspect entrepreneurs but to create conditions for them to work properly.
"Bringing the economy out of the 'shadow' should be done not through inspections, but by showing the entrepreneur the way and teaching him to work properly," — he said.
A three-year moratorium will be introduced on any inspections in small business that are not related to harming human health or the interests of other entrepreneurs.
If medium and large business entities that have undergone voluntary preventive audit eliminate identified shortcomings, no fines will be applied.
The amount of all types of fines will be reduced by an average of two times.
Starting next year, the rules of "Presumption of the entrepreneur's rightness" and "Warning for the first mistake" will be introduced in disputes between entrepreneurs and the state.
Half of government services will be transferred to the "silence — consent" principle. Licenses and permits for more than 30 types of activities will be abolished, and the timeframes for issuing 35 more will be reduced.
Instead of several permits required for food exports, a single "Health Certificate" will be introduced.
Benefits will also be provided to tourism entrepreneurs
Measures to support entrepreneurs in the tourism sector were also defined during the dialogue.
Resources of 50 million dollars will be allocated for building, reconstructing, and equipping hotels.
The period for granting subsidies for the construction of three-, four-, and five-star hotels will be extended for another two years, and benefits on land and property taxes — until 2030.
Services provided by tour operators to foreign tourists will be equated to exports. Benefits for importing tourist buses and electric buses will also be continued.
New growth points identified in Uzbekistan
At the end of the dialogue, the main milestones for taking the country's economy to a new level were defined.
"We are a people of 40 million. To further improve the lives of our people, we must maintain high economic growth," — said the President.
The task was set to raise the gross domestic product above 180 billion dollars and exports above 40 billion dollars this year.
New growth points were also identified based on the potential of the regions.
In Tashkent, developing export-oriented business; in the Fergana Valley, fully integrated industry; in Samarkand, Bukhara, and Khorezm, developing tourism, creative industries, and agro-industrial brands were defined as main tasks.
In Navoi and Tashkent regions, mining, metallurgy, and scientific chemistry; in Kashkadarya and Surkhandarya, agro-industry and oil and gas chemistry; in Karakalpakstan, "green" energy, information technologies, and artificial intelligence; in Jizzakh and Syrdarya, automotive, electrical engineering, and construction materials will be the main growth points.
At the end of the meeting, the President noted that a new generation of entrepreneurs with modern thinking and striving to expand their business is being formed in the country.
"Never stop striving forward, growing, developing, and innovating! Behind you there is always a strong state that supports you, a law that protects your rights and interests, and a President who is your partner in realizing your initiatives and goals!" — said the head of state.
