The Support to Investment Climate Improvement in Uzbekistan project is launched in partnership with the Senate of Oliy Majlis of the Republic of Uzbekistan. The Project aims to support the Senate of Oliy Majlis of the Republic of Uzbekistan, State Investments Committee (now the Ministry of investments and foreign trade) and other ministries and agencies of Uzbekistan to implement the Action Strategy on five priority directions of development of Uzbekistan adopted by the Government for 2017-2021. In line with the third direction of the Strategy ‘Priority areas of development and liberalization of the economy’ the Project will provide its support in improving the investment climate to attract foreign direct investments to the economy and the regions to create jobs.

Under this project ERGO tasks were:

• Development of the draft Concept for the development of free economic zones of the Republic of Uzbekistan to promote the activities of the FEZ in the Republic of Uzbekistan for the short / medium and long term;

• Holding personal meetings with the directors of the free economic zone to determine strategic goals, formulate recommendations on of the free economic zone management;

• Development of the explicit requirements for free economic zone establishment (geographical location, specialization, availability of human resources);

• Conduct research of the competitive advantages of each FEZ (preparation of SWOT analysis);

• Review and submit analytical paper on of best practices and comparison of the international regulatory framework (FEZ of China, South Korea, Russia, as well as the experience of Malaysia in terms of the development of the Halal industry); 

• Evaluate and submit the draft report on the innovation development of the FEZ, taking into account the Strategy for the Innovation Development of the Republic of Uzbekistan for 2019-2021;

• FEZ development strategies simulation of possible development options for the short, medium and long term;

• Submit the final draft of analytical notes and proposed recommendations for FEZ concept development.