00:28The fifth task can continue
00:30International Investment Forum ended with 166 signed agreements worth $43.1 billion.
00:37More than 10,000 participants attended with foreign delegates from 102 countries.
00:43The turnout showed the forum's international reach.
00:46Long-term investment, however, depends 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 evidence.
01:02A recent test was the dual listing of Uzbekistan's National Investment Fund in London and Tashkent,
01:08giving investors access to a fund with stakes in 13 state-owned companies.
01:13Five years from now, we'll be sitting here looking back and the entire capital market will look
01:20completely different with more foreign institutional investors being active in Uzbekistan.
01:26The presidents of Germany and Albania visited Tashkent alongside senior officials from across the region.
01:33A U.S.-Uzbekistan business forum drew representatives of 193 American companies, including Boeing, Visa,
01:41JP Morgan and Meta.
01:43The government says reforms since 2017 have cut taxes and removed restrictions on currency conversion and transfers of profits abroad.
01:53Any investor can come, can invest and 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.
02:05For 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, connections to Asia.
02:15And new opportunities created by trade, energy and transport links across the region.
02:20That shift is the reason why so many investors have gathered here in Tashkent.
02:27The China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway, the Middle Corridor and the proposed Trans-Afghan route aim 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 are changing international assessments of Central Asia.
03:00Central Asia is nowadays one of the most impressive regions in terms of economic growth.
03:08And I think it's only a question of times.
03:10Then some people will start talking about the Central Asian CAIGOS.
03:16Uzbekistan wants to turn that growth into exports and higher value industries.
03:21Digital exports offer one measure.
03:24Our annual IT export was less than a million dollars.
03:27Last year, we celebrated our first billion dollars.
03:32The country plans to raise the share of green power to 54% of electricity generation and attract investment in
03:39grids, storage, artificial intelligence and data centers.
03:43Capital, energy and talent are all equally important towards the eventual success of AI adoption in the country.
03:55The Uzbek government estimates the value of its mineral resources at 3 trillion dollars.
04:01Turning those reserves into wider economic gains requires more than extraction.
04:06Having a lot of resources doesn't mean you're necessarily going to benefit.
04:10Countries need to translate that resource wealth into long-term benefits.
04:13Domestic investment can also signal confidence to foreign investors.
04:19The moment your own population starts to believe that it's safe to actually invest, to expand businesses here,
04:29this is the most potent message to the rest of the world.
04:34Foreign investors have a formal channel to propose policy changes.
04:39The Foreign Investors Council includes 85 companies from 19 countries.
04:45The government says 120 recommendations will create a reform roadmap with progress reported directly to the president.
04:53Thank you for watching and the last thing.
04:58While maintaining the response costs, it will expand businesses in the country.
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