RU
UZ
In Uzbekistan, for the first time at the international level, the role of the capital market in the development of the country’s economy was discussed. The speakers at the event were Atabek Nazirov, Sadik Safaev, Saida Mirziyoyeva, Ruslanbek Davletov, Zafar Khashimov and others.
On November 15, the conference “The role of the capital market in the development of the economy of Uzbekistan” was held at Inha University in Tashkent, the university’s press service said. The organizers were the Agency for the Development of the Capital Market in conjunction with the Senate of the Oliy Majlis, the Agency for Information and Mass Communications under the Presidential Administration and the Agency for the Management of State Assets. The conference was attended by representatives of leading international investment companies, financial institutions, leading experts in the capital market, representatives of government agencies and heads of major domestic companies.
Opening the event, the director of the Capital Market Development Agency Atabek Nazirov noted that the Stock Market is not a decoration and not an accessory, but a tool for increasing the well-being of the population, as well as for injecting the investment resource so necessary for it into the economy. “I believe that the stock market is an effective tool for increasing the welfare of our fellow citizens, a way to get the benefits of economic growth and providing decent pensions, good housing, as well as confidence in the future,” said Atabek Nazirov.
With the lending economy of Uzbekistan to the banking sector with an excessively high level of state participation, the development of the capital market is of particular importance for accelerating the pace of economic development. At the same time, the most pressing tasks for the development of the market are bringing the legislation in line with the requirements for frontier markets (markets that are just starting to develop), creating an ecosystem of the financial market, which includes brokers, pension funds, insurance companies and banks, creation of a mechanism to attract funds of the population to the stock market.
“It is a great honor for me to take part in this conference. The Information and Mass Communications Agency is a co-organizer of this important event. Our task is to ensure openness and transparency of all state bodies and companies, as well as to assist them in ensuring relations with the public and the media. We understand that for the development of the capital market it is necessary that decision makers can provide all market participants with timely, reliable and detailed information. Today it is of great importance. We, in turn, are ready to do everything possible to facilitate this. This conference will serve as a platform for establishing contacts, open dialogue, discussing challenges and problems, opportunities for developing an effective capital market, ”said AIMC Deputy Director Saida Mirziyoyeva at the opening ceremony of the conference.
According to the participants of the event, the main task of the regulator (Capital Market Agency) should be to protect investors. Investors are ready to finance risks if they are confident in protecting their legal rights and interests. Another equally important mission of the regulator is to prevent over-regulation of the market, because it can destroy it. It is necessary to exclude bureaucracy and excessive requirements for granting a large number of different permits, as well as licensing and registration requirements.
Atabek Nazirov, the head of the Capital Market Agency, said that the largest privatization program for state-owned companies is currently being prepared. At the first stage, privatization of at least 20 large state-owned companies through the capital market is expected.
Sunnatulla Bekenov, Director of the State Assets Management Agency, announced his readiness to support the republic’s capital market by expanding the IPO practice of shares of state-owned companies, emphasizing its implementation on the republic’s domestic capital market to actively attract investors, including business entities and the public, to the stock market. The speaker also spoke about planned IPOs with shares of state-owned banks “Aloqabank” and “Uzpromstroybank”, as well as “Uzbek Commodity and Raw Materials Exchange” JSC. According to him, the government is committed to continuing this practice to reduce the state’s presence in the economy.
“It is planned to adopt a Strategy for the management and privatization of state-owned enterprises, which provides for the criteria for maintaining state-owned enterprises and transforming them into efficient enterprises that can compete in the domestic and foreign markets,” said the director of the State Asset Management Agency.
At the event, it was announced that the government intends to accelerate the implementation of the pension reform in order to grant the right to pension funds to invest in securities. This implies the creation of private pension funds. It was also announced plans for the development of the secondary market for government bonds, with the possibility of their purchase by the population.
“It is gratifying that it was our university that was chosen to hold such a large-scale event. I note that Inha University in Tashkent has already become not just a university, but a platform where education interacts with the real sector of the economy. The university regularly hosts various events where students receive useful practical information about the situation in various fields. Today, among the conference participants, I met both graduates of our university and students who are already employees of large international domestic companies, ”commented the acting Rector Muzaffar Djalalov.