TASHKENT – 11 August 2021: A delegation from Uzbekistan recently visited an Russian Export Center to study good practices in local economic development, small business support, trade promotion and export financing.  The two-day visit, sponsored by the Russian Federation, is a part of UNDP’s Aid for Trade initiative, which is geared to support Uzbekistan’s trade support institutions that should provide efficient services to the private sector to prosper them through commerce.

UNDP Resident Representative Matilda Dimovska said participation in global trade is important for the Sustainable Development Goals, but “there are some barriers and obstacles that must be overcome for countries like Uzbekistan to be able to participate meaningfully and equitably in international trade. These challenges concern product quality, norms, standards, level of competitiveness, institutional capacity, market access and appropriate strategies and policies, among others.”

“In Uzbekistan, the current system of export support is radically reformed, specialized agency, fund and associations are established. This area of support for domestic exports in Uzbekistan is new and requires consultative and technical assistance from international organizations and financial institutions, which in turn will serve to create an effective trade support system” highlighted Mr. Alisher Gulyamov, Deputy Chairman of Uzbekistan Logistics Association.

During the two-day event, the participants, which included representatives of specialized organizations, financial and insurance companies and associations, were able to familiarize themselves with all the activities of the Russian Export Center Group, including:

• Credit and guarantee products of Eximbank of Russia for exporting enterprises and methods of structuring the financial transactions;
• A wide range of modern insurance instruments of EXIAR JSC to support exports; 
• Consulting services and preparation of enterprises to attract project financing for the implementation of promising export-oriented projects;
• Government measures to support exports, conditions and mechanisms for obtaining financing for exporters;
• Training programmes for start-up exporting companies on the conduct of export activities;
• Non-financial export support measures established by the foreign network of Russian Export Center, through which effective work is carried out in the search for sales markets and identification of potential buyers;
• Support in matters of compliance with export of Russian goods to obligatory requirements of the country-importer, facilitate access of exports to foreign markets, and address the issues of patenting;
• Methods of organizing export activities and logistic support of export deliveries of small businesses.

Following the study tour, which was broadcast online to broaden the involvement of exporting companies in Uzbekistan, members of the Uzbek delegation reached an agreement on the further development of fruitful cooperation between the two countries.  The Russian Export Center agreed to support the development of a national network of trade support institutions in Uzbekistan.

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Background

The ‘Aid for Trade in Uzbekistan’ project is aimed to support Uzbekistan’s WTO accession process, developing trade, building productive and export capacities for niche products in employment-rich and potentially green sectors to contribute to more economically, socially and environmentally sustainable growth patterns.

The project is funded by the Government of the Russian Federation and implemented by the United Nations Development Programme in partnership with the Ministry of Investments and Foreign Trade of Uzbekistan.

For more information, please contact Kamoliddin Nuritdinov, kamoliddin.nuritdinov@undp.org tel: +998903709700