00:02МУЗЫКАЛЬНАЯ ЗАСТАВКА
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00:18МУЗЫКАЛЬНАЯ ЗАСТАВКА
00:26МУЗЫКАЛЬНАЯ ЗАСТАВКА
00:27The 5th Tusk Young International Investment Forum
00:31ended with 166 signed agreements worth $43.1 billion.
00:37More than 10,000 participants attended
00:39with foreign delegates from 102 countries.
00:43The turnout showed the forum's international reach.
00:46Long-term investment, however,
00:48depends on whether investors believe reforms will endure.
00:52The reform agenda, it needs track record.
00:55You can't change things overnight.
00:57People need the evidence to see it.
00:58But we've now had many years of reference.
01:02A recent test was the dual listing of Uzbekistan's
01:05National Investment Fund in London and Tashkent,
01:08giving investors access to a fund with stakes
01:11in 13 state-owned companies.
01:14Five years from now, we'll be sitting here looking back,
01:17and the entire capital market will look completely different
01:21with more foreign institutional investors
01:23being active in Uzbekistan.
01:26The presidents of Germany and Albania visited Tashkent
01:30alongside senior officials from across the region.
01:33A U.S.-Uzbekistan business forum
01:35drew representatives of 193 American companies,
01:39including Boeing, Visa, J.P. Morgan, and Meta.
01:43The government says reforms since 2017 have cut taxes
01:47and removed restrictions on currency conversion
01:50and transfers of profits abroad.
01:53Any investor can come, can invest,
01:55and get their revenues out of the country within one day.
01:57So this is a basic principle.
02:00Those reforms coincide with a more connected Central Asia.
02:04For years, many investors look at Central Asia in short distance.
02:09Today, many of them see connections,
02:11connections to Europe, connections to the United States,
02:14connections to Asia,
02:15and new opportunities created by trade, energy, and transport,
02:18links across the region.
02:20That shift is the reason why so many investors
02:24have gathered here in Tashkent.
02:27The China, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan railway,
02:30the middle corridor, and the proposed trans-Afghan route
02:33aim to connect the landlocked region
02:35to global markets and southern seaports.
02:38Uzbekistan also expects tourism to benefit.
02:54Faster growth and stronger connections
02:57are changing international assessments of Central Asia.
03:00Central Asia is nowadays one of the most impressive regions
03:06in terms of economic growth.
03:08And I think it's only a question of times
03:10that some people will start talking about the Central Asian CAIGOS.
03:16Uzbekistan wants to turn that growth into exports
03:19and higher value industries.
03:21Digital exports offer one measure.
03:31The country plans to raise the share of green power
03:34to 54% of electricity generation
03:37and attract investment in grids, storage,
03:40artificial intelligence, and data centers.
03:42Capital, energy, and talent
03:46are all equally important
03:50towards the eventual success of AI adoption in the country.
03:55The Uzbek government estimates the value
03:58of its mineral resources at $3 trillion.
04:01Turning those reserves into wider economic gains
04:04requires more than extraction.
04:06Having a lot of resources doesn't mean
04:08you're necessarily going to benefit.
04:09Countries need to translate that resource wealth
04:12into long-term benefits.
04:14Domestic investment can also signal confidence
04:17to foreign investors.
04:19The moment your own population starts to believe
04:23that it's safe to actually invest,
04:27to expand businesses here,
04:29this is the most potent message
04:32to the rest of the world.
04:35Foreign investors have a formal channel
04:37to propose policy changes.
04:39The Forum Investors Council
04:41includes 85 companies from 19 countries.
04:45The government says 120 recommendations
04:48will create a reform roadmap
04:50with progress reported directly to the president.
04:53The Forum Investors Council
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