Azernews.Az

By Kamila Aliyeva

Uzbekistan’s exports have increased by almost 15 percent in 2017 at a 5.5-percent growth rate.

In 2018, the total financial indicator of exports is expected at $12.1 billion.

This was announced by Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev during a video-conference meeting on December 25.

The meeting was devoted to the priority tasks of export expansion. One of them is the timely implementation of the agreements reached during visits to the Central Asian states, as well as China, Russia, South Korea, the United States, Turkey and other countries.

Another one concerns the need to introduce a system of warning about the security threat when business entities pass customs inspection.

The meeting also addressed the issues of the abolition of unnecessary licenses and permits from the State Customs Committee and the need to develop a strategy to increase exports of fruit and vegetable products.

The statistics show that more than 360 enterprises have been involved in export activities since the beginning of this year, more than 120 new types of goods have been exported. In addition, more than 230,000 tons of fruit and vegetables were exported.

The Uzbek head of state said that consistent increase and full utilization of the country's export potential, as well as strengthening the competitiveness of national products in foreign markets is one of the most important factors for maintaining stable and high economic growth rates.

In conclusion, the officials were given specific instructions to increase the country's export potential, expand geography and the range of exports, provide full support to exporting enterprises and attract new business entities to export activities.

In particular, Mirziyoyev has instructed the Cabinet of Ministers to prepare, within two months, a draft resolution on the introduction of a “dual corridor” system for customs at the time of registration of export-import documents.

The complexity of customs procedures is one of the main factors hampering the development of entrepreneurship in Uzbekistan, according to the president.

The country will set the order of passage of customs through the “green” and “red” corridors in 2018, depending on the honesty of entrepreneurs.

According to the World Bank, today the country ranks 177th among 190 states for the convenience of passing customs procedures, which takes almost a month in Uzbekistan.

Earlier, it was reported that export customs duties on all types of goods and licensing of exports of goods except for specific goods were abolished in Uzbekistan.

This was stipulated by a decree of the Uzbek president “On additional measures to stimulate exports and ensure the competitiveness of domestic goods in foreign markets”, dated December 15, 2017.

A landlocked Central Asian country shipped $7 billion worth of goods around the globe in 2016.

The main export of Uzbekistan include gems, precious metals (41.6% of total exports); mineral fuels including oil (11.7 percent); cotton (10.3 percent); copper (6.4 percent); plastics, plastic articles (5.7 percent); fruits, nuts (5.6 percent); inorganic chemicals (4.6 percent); knit or crochet clothing, accessories (2.7 percent); vegetables (1.8 percent); and zinc (1.6 percent).

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Kamila Aliyeva is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Kami_Aliyeva

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