The Head of State put forward important initiatives for the development of entrepreneurship

---

President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev held an open dialogue with entrepreneurs on August 18.

At the beginning of the event, the Head of state congratulated the audience on the Day of Entrepreneurs, expressing his deep respect and best wishes to them.

During the meeting, the results of past meetings were reviewed. In 2021, 57 initiatives were put forward based on the results of the dialogue, 55 last year. Their introduction into practice has made doing business much easier.

For example, based on the proposals put forward last year, business entities were divided into micro, small, medium and large categories, each of which began to apply a separate approach. Similarly, districts and cities were divided into 5 categories, separate tax, credit and financial regimes were introduced in 60 districts.

The deadline for the refund of value-added tax has been shortened, 20 trillion soums were returned to 6 thousand enterprises last year. Most importantly, by reducing the rate of this tax to 12 percent, the number of participants in the value chain increased by 26 thousand, and their activities came out of the "shadow".

When crediting, a system has been created for using goods in circulation, export contracts, letters of credit and future revenue as collateral. Thanks to this opportunity, $1 billion in loans were provided to entrepreneurs.

The system of processing in the customs territory has been simplified. As a result, the number of entrepreneurs using this customs regime has doubled. During the year, $455 million worth of products were exported using this opportunity.

Licenses and permits for 119 types of activities that were previously difficult to access for new entrepreneurs have been canceled or transferred to a notification form. During the six months of this year, the number of inspections of taxpayers' activities decreased by 40 percent compared to the corresponding period last year.

In general, over the past year, the number of small entrepreneurs has increased by 40 thousand, and the number of medium-sized entrepreneurs has increased from 2 thousand to 10 thousand. The number of large enterprises increased by 400 to 1.5 thousand per year.

With the use of the provided preferences, the annual turnover of 155 enterprises for the year exceeded $ 100 million. The volume of annual foreign investments reached $10 billion for the first time.

After open dialogues over the past two years, domestic enterprises have exported products worth $ 25 billion, and the country has started production of previously imported products worth $ 10 billion.

President Shavkat Mirziyoyev outlined five main directions in his speech at the dialogue. Each of them includes many initiatives.

The first direction is new opportunities for small businesses.

The creation of a holistic ecosystem has been announced to train representatives of this field in entrepreneurship, provide them with projects, finance their activities, search for a market for their products and business partners. To do this, first of all, the bank "Kishlok Kurilish Bank" will be transformed into a "Business Development Bank". In total, the bank will create 14 small business centers in each region. The projects of entrepreneurs studying in them will be financed on the most favorable terms. Small businesses participating in this program will not be tested for three years.

In general, this system will help 150 thousand small businesses to get back on their feet, 25 thousand will be able to move to the middle category, 250 thousand new permanent jobs will be created.

As part of the second direction, initiatives related to medium-sized businesses were announced.

In particular, to support entrepreneurs who want to move from small to medium-sized businesses, both the activities and the working methods of the respective funds will be changed.

An industrial mortgage system will be launched, and entrepreneurs will be provided with production facilities in the form of a "ready-made business". In particular, at least 3 new industrial zones will be created in each region.

The Entrepreneurship Fund, in turn, will be responsible for the service sector - another driver of the economy. The Fund will introduce a system of "mortgage services" in the fields of tourism, trade and service.

It was emphasized that due to these new opportunities, it is possible to create additional services worth $ 1 billion, produce new products worth $ 5 billion and organize 350 thousand new jobs.

The third direction is to enter new markets with a high-quality and competitive product.

- We cannot, like some countries, ensure high economic growth through the sale of oil and gas resources. Our oil and gas are valuable and high—quality products created by such enterprising and enterprising business people like you," the President said.

As a result of the state's support of this direction over the past four years, the number of exporting enterprises has increased from 4.5 thousand to 7.2 thousand. The types of export products increased from 1.5 thousand to 3 thousand, and the geography expanded from 139 to 164 countries.

Last year, the program "New Uzbekistan – a country of competitive products" was launched. Within its framework, a special credit, tax and customs regime has been introduced for 100 leading exporting enterprises.

During the dialogue, it was announced that this year this program will be continued, and the number of enterprises covered will increase to 500.

The Head of our state paid special attention to attracting prestigious foreign brands. It was stressed that for this it is necessary to take into account the conditions of foreign partners and introduce international standards, environmental requirements and certification of production, as well as a favorable customs regime, create decent working conditions for employees at enterprises.

The fourth direction is the increase of highly profitable enterprises. To this end, with the involvement of international consultants, 140 projects were developed in the electrical, textile, leather and shoe, jewelry, construction, furniture, polymer, chemical and food industries. Their total cost is $ 10 billion, it is planned to create 60 thousand jobs, produce products worth $ 5 billion and export $ 2.5 billion a year. These ready-made projects were offered to entrepreneurs.

The fifth direction is aimed at simplifying tax administration and eliminating bureaucracy. The President noted the growth of complaints related to corruption in this area, as well as the unfairness of the practice of using the tax gap coefficient when returning value added tax. In this regard, it was decided to cancel this practice from October 1.

It was stressed that all financial sanctions will be reviewed and fair standards will be established.

Also, consideration of all disputes between the entrepreneur and the tax authorities will be transferred to the competence of the administrative court. Any restrictions on their direct appeal to the courts will be lifted.

In order to save time and money for entrepreneurs, duplicate and outdated reports will be abolished from January 1, 2024. It is noted that all reports will be submitted through a single electronic system, and their paper form will be abolished.

- At a new stage in the development of our country, every year is a time for the implementation of large-scale programs and projects. As long as we have brave and enterprising businessmen who have passed the trials of life, we will definitely achieve our goals," the President said at the end of his speech.

The open dialogue continued in the form of questions and answers. The responsible persons were given instructions on the proposals and problems voiced by entrepreneurs.