New business initiatives take effect today

On August 20, an open dialogue between the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev and entrepreneurs took place in New Tashkent.

The head of our state congratulated businessmen on their professional holiday and the 34th anniversary of independence. He emphasized their enormous contribution to transformation in every industry, in every region and in every mahalla.

Over the past eight years, many sectors of the economy have been re-formed. During this period, 230 billion dollars of investments were attracted, of which more than 120 billion were foreign. In the first half of this year, our country’s economy grew by 7.2 percent.

Thanks to the creation of favorable conditions for doing business, the number of entrepreneurs and the scale of their activities have increased. For example, 1,600 micro-enterprises over the year increased their turnover to more than 10 billion soums and immediately moved into the medium-sized category, 143 exceeded the turnover of 100 billion soums and became large companies. Another 122 small enterprises were among the large ones.

As a result of measures to bring business out of the shadows, in 139 thousand companies the number of jobs increased by 811 thousand, in 273 thousand companies the wage fund increased by 22 percent. If last year the average salary in the private sector was 4 million soums, today it is close to 5 million.

It is noted that since the first open dialogue, almost a thousand initiatives of entrepreneurs have been enshrined in legislation. The current meeting was the fifth in a row. In preparation for it, meetings were held with almost 7 thousand representatives of 26 industries, and more than 13 thousand requests and proposals were received through the call center.

In recent weeks, issues related to key sectors of the economy - fruits and vegetables, textiles and individual entrepreneurship were discussed, and support measures were identified.

At today's dialogue, the head of state put forward new initiatives in other areas of entrepreneurship.

First of all, the service sector will be actively developed as the most effective area for creating short-term and quick-payback jobs. A new tourism development program is being launched. In the next three years, 5 thousand hectares of land will be put up for auction for the organization of hotels and tourist facilities. At the same time, entrepreneurs who want to build a hotel will not be charged for the land - the state will enter the project as a co-founder for the amount of the cost of the site.

Entrepreneurs will be able to buy out this share at any time within ten years. If payment is made immediately, a 20 percent discount is provided. For the construction of hotels, loans will be allocated for a period of seven years with a two-year grace period.

Many entrepreneurs are already acquiring public and private facilities and converting them into hotels. Now subsidies provided for the construction of new hotels will be provided to them as well. In addition, hotels located outside Tashkent, regional centers and large tourist areas are exempt from paying tourist taxes.

If previously family guest houses could receive no more than 10 tourists per day, now this limit is doubled.

The President proposed holding a competition among domestic hotels and family guest houses. The prize fund of the competition will be $1 million, and the best properties that have received the most positive reviews on reputable international platforms will be rewarded annually.

Due to infrastructure development, the number of large tourist areas will be increased. Thus, large year-round resort areas will be created in the Chartak, Fergana, Baysun and Nurabad districts.

This year, more than 1 trillion soums have been allocated for the accelerated development of 16 districts. In the future, at the expense of $500 million, similar projects will be implemented in other areas. This will create great opportunities for entrepreneurs in industry, services and construction, as well as tens of thousands of jobs.

Businesses also need additional space. In this regard, starting next year, state assets will be leased for five years.

It is noted that the Law “On Lease,” adopted in 1991, was mainly aimed at protecting the interests of government agencies. In this regard, a new version of the law will be developed that equally protects the rights of the landlord and the tenant.

At the meeting, new opportunities in the field of education and medicine were also identified.

In particular, in 80 areas with low coverage of preschool education, entrepreneurs will be provided with benefits. They will be allowed to build kindergartens on the vacant lands of preschool institutions and schools under the terms of public-private partnership. However, land rent will not be charged for 30 years. The state will subsidize half of the costs for each child provided for in public kindergartens. Also, proactive entrepreneurs will be provided with preferential loans, and the social tax rate for them will be only 1 percent.

For entrepreneurs creating medical clusters, loans will be provided for a period of 7 years with a three-year grace period at 17 percent per annum.

The President emphasized that the most important tool for supporting business is financial services. In this regard, an investment platform will be created to simplify raising funds for projects. With its help, entrepreneurs will be able to attract an additional $1 billion per year.

Today there are more than 600 startups operating in Uzbekistan. In the first seven months of this year alone, they attracted a record amount of $264 million in foreign investment.

This work will continue: it is planned to commercialize thousands of youth startup ideas, of which 200 will be launched on the international market. Using cutting-edge technology, 100 local startups will grow into attractive, world-class businesses. For this purpose, 100 million dollars are allocated.

The Young Entrepreneurs Championship will start this year. The 100 best ideas will be selected, and up to 1 billion soums will be invested in each startup.

To expand digital financial services, a five-year strategy will be adopted, which includes the introduction of a new ecosystem - “open banking.”

Next year, banks will attract $1 billion for targeted support of small and medium-sized businesses on preferential terms. An alternative scoring model will be introduced, which will facilitate the conditions for obtaining loans.

Tax administration issues were also discussed at the meeting.

Currently, enterprises with an annual turnover of over 10 billion soums are forced to make advance payments on income tax, which creates difficulties with working capital. Now this procedure will be applied only for turnover above 20 billion soums. As a result, 14 thousand entrepreneurs will have an additional 1 trillion soums of working capital.

Enterprises switching from turnover tax to VAT are exempt from paying income tax for one year. Even in case of reporting errors, no fines will be applied. In addition, part of the wages of accountants up to 5 million soums for six months will be deducted from taxes paid by such enterprises.

Two years ago, an accounting system was introduced for “simplified” taxpayers by tax officials. Starting next year, entrepreneurs will be freed from the obligation to prepare reports on land, property, social and income taxes - they will be compiled free of charge by the tax authorities. Businesses will be able to make corrections to their financial statements within 5 days.

It is known that business develops where the rule of law applies. In recent years, modern investment instruments have been introduced into the economy - venture capital, bonds, crowdfunding, startups. Currently, these relations are regulated by dozens of documents.

The President proposed to combine all these norms into a single document of direct action - to adopt the Investment Code. It will unite all the rules, guarantees and procedures in the investment sphere and will help stimulate investment.

The head of state also announced another important news: from 2026, the principle “Start a business in 15 minutes” will be introduced. Upon registration, the entrepreneur will immediately be provided with an electronic digital signature, a bank account and a notification will be sent to government authorities.

The list of goods subject to mandatory certification has been reduced to 459 items and will be reduced by another 288.

For 32 categories of goods - such as seedlings, mineral fertilizers, footwear, livestock feed, which are under sanitary, veterinary and quarantine control - certificates of conformity will be cancelled.

In general, the national infrastructure related to ensuring the safety and quality of products and its assessment will be radically reformed and brought into line with international standards. First of all, instead of certification, the practice of declaring conformity will be widely introduced.

The technical regulation system will be completely transformed: the object of control will not be the entrepreneur, but the product itself.

It is noted that all the announced possibilities come into force today.

The President emphasized that the tasks set are large-scale, but achievable thanks to to the current entrepreneurial spirit in our country.

The meeting continued in the format of an open dialogue. Entrepreneurs who participated in it from central and regional studios expressed their suggestions and comments. Problematic issues were discussed, on which relevant instructions were given to responsible persons.

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In accordance with the decree of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan dated August 18 of this year, a group of entrepreneurs who made a significant contribution to the development of the economy and strengthening the country’s export potential, creating new jobs and improving the standard of living of the population were awarded honorary titles, orders and medals.

On August 20, a solemn ceremony for presenting these awards took place in New Tashkent.

President Shavkat Mirziyoyev congratulated those gathered on Entrepreneurs Day and the upcoming Independence Day.

– Today at this event I am glad to see leading entrepreneurs - the most advanced representatives of our society. When we began large-scale reforms in this area, both economists and businessmen themselves had certain concerns. But we didn’t stop, we continued to create conditions with faith in success and energy. We made decision makers listen to entrepreneurs. This has borne fruit - trust between the state and business has strengthened, the whole society has become an ally of the entrepreneur,” noted Shavkat Mirziyoyev.

It was emphasized that the country’s entrepreneurs with their new ideas and initiatives are moving all sectors forward, large-scale programs are being implemented together with them.

- We have created conditions for entrepreneurship, and entrepreneurs have become a reliable support of the state. Over the past 4-5 years, employment has been provided for 7.5 million people. More than 3 million new jobs have been created this year alone. Would such results be possible without improving the investment climate and business environment? – the President emphasized.

Of course, it would be impossible to achieve this without the entrepreneurs themselves. Today they are the driving force of the economy in various areas, especially in rural areas, providing the population with a stable income. The experience of professional training of hundreds of thousands of young people and women, their training in entrepreneurship is also the result of joint work with business.

“The formation of a new generation of entrepreneurs and businessmen in our country is our great wealth and achievement,” the President said. – After all, every entrepreneur leads dozens of people, trains them in their business, creates jobs and income, and brings new breath into the life of society. You can rightfully be called heroes of New Uzbekistan.

According to the tradition established at the initiative of the head of state, every year the best entrepreneurs are awarded high awards of the Motherland. This year, when selecting nominees, special attention was paid to those who set an example for the business community, have achieved concrete results and make a significant contribution to the development of the regions and the country as a whole through production and export.

At the ceremony, the head of state solemnly presented state awards to their owners.

The laureates expressed gratitude to the President for his constant support and high appreciation of their work.

The event was attended by representatives of government and public organizations, scientists and intellectuals.

Official website of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan