In the framework of the II Uzbekistan Economic Forum held in Samarkand, on November 3 this year, the Director of the State Assets Management Agency Akmalkhon Ortikov participated in a panel session on "Fuelling economic growth: a focus on the private sector".
The panel session discussed the ongoing reforms on reducing the state involvement in the economy, including privatization of state assets and non-agricultural land plots, management and reform of enterprises with state participation, introduction of modern methods of corporate governance in enterprises with state participation and further prospective plans in these areas.
Main theses of the speech of Akmalkhon Ortikov:
As of today more than 1,000 state-owned real estate properties have been sold through auction to private entrepreneurs.
At the same time the privatization of enterprises with state participation is ongoing. The privatization process of 99.02 percent of shares in the authorized capital of "Ferghanaazot" JSC stands as an example. The International Finance Corporation (IFC) is involved as a strategic advisor of the State Assets Management Agency for this privatization process, and Deloitte as a leading consultant for implementation of the privatization processes and comprehensive analysis, as well as KPMG for the valuation of the shares.
Under the approved large-scale privatization program for the current year, it is planned to privatize the state share in 55 business entities, as well as to offer for public auction more than 1,500 real estate objects, 223 of which have been privatized so far, 596 are put up for sale, 736 are preparing for sale.
The scale of the privatization processes of state assets involves more and more industries of the economy. Currently, privatization has also started in the automotive, telecommunications, transport and energy industries.
An international tender on selecting professional consulting companies to develop a strategy for privatization of "Thermal Power Plants" JSC and "Uzbekistan Airways" JSC has been completed. Within the framework of the Forum, commercial contracts will be signed with professional consulting companies recognized as winners of the tenders held.
At this time, the privatization processes have also covered the land reform. As of today 769,7 ha of non-agricultural land plots for 662 billion soums have been privatized via online auctions. In addition, individuals and legal entities could now privatize non-agricultural land plots belonging to them. A digital approach was also used for this, which does not require much effort from interested parties. Everyone can apply with the necessary documents through the online platform my.gov.uz from the comfort of their homes or at the nearest public services office. To date, more than 1,153 ownership orders have been issued and more than 25,000 applications have been received.
