OREANDA-NEWS.  December 02, 2013. President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov met with President of the Asian Development Bank Takehiko Nakao at the Oqsaroy.

Greeting the guest, the head of our state underscored the robust and reliable foundation of cooperation garnered with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) that has been providing a considerable support for the economic reforms and structural transformation in Uzbekistan.

The Uzbekistan-ADB cooperation portfolio currently includes 40 projects worth 14.5 billion US dollars, as part of which the resources drawn from the ADB have exceeded 4.9 billion dollars. Among the strategically important investment projects being spearheaded successfully are the construction of two combined-cycle plants with a total capacity of 900 megawatt at the Talimarjan Thermal Power Station, a wide-ranging program of building and reconstruction of motor roads, construction of Ustyurt Gas-Chemical Complex at the Surgil deposit, a program of housing construction in rural areas.

During the talks, the two sides noted with satisfaction that the cooperation between Uzbekistan and the Asian Development Bank – a leading international financial institution who partners with our country – has been strategic and enduring.

The implementation of an ADB initiative designed to promote solar energy in Asia, a proposal outlined during the May 2010 Annual Meeting of the ADB Board of Directors held in Tashkent, is currently becoming one of the promising aspects in the bilateral interaction. The scheme envisages in particular the construction of solar power plants with a capacity of three thousand megawatt across the continent in the coming years.

As part of this initiative, Uzbekistan and the Bank started to execute a project of building a solar photoelectric station with a capacity of 100 megawatt in Samarkand region to be the first station in its kind in the region. The International Institute of Solar Energy has been established in Tashkent jointly with the ADB. The institution is expected to become a generator of new joint projects directed at enhancing the use of renewable energy sources not only in Uzbekistan, but also in other countries of the Asian continent.

A logical extension of the expanding partnership between Uzbekistan and the ADB in this sphere has become the holding of the 6th session of the Asian Forum for Solar Energy in the city of Tashkent. The meeting is attended by some 300 representatives of governments, international financial institutions, manufacturers of equipment, academic and research centers, along with specialists and experts in solar energy from the nations of Asia, Europe, North and South America.

Within the current visit of the ADB President to Uzbekistan, loan agreements have been inked for sum total of 380 million US dollars for projects in the construction of a solar photoelectric station with a capacity of 100 megawatt in Samarkand region, the rehabilitation of Amu-Bukhara irrigation system, and the promotion of small and microfinance.

During the meeting at the Oqsaroy, the ADB President expressed gratitude for Uzbekistan’s support for the Bank-backed schemes in multilateral cooperation, crucial for the entire region.

The two sides exchanged views in detail on the prospects of enhancement and expansion of bilateral mutually advantageous interaction for a long-term period, as well as the joint endeavors in the realization of region-wide projects.

Currently, Uzbekistan and the Bank discuss the program of bilateral cooperation for 2014-2016 that envisions the materialization of priority projects and programs in such areas as the oil and gas sector, electric power industry, transport infrastructure, water supply, housing construction, small business, healthcare, education and public utilities.

The two sides expressed conviction in that this program will fill the partnership relations with qualitative substance and shape a background for the extension and enrichment of bilateral mutually beneficial interaction.

Takehiko Nakao expressed sincere gratefulness to the head of our state for a warm reception and the appreciation of the Bank’s activity in Uzbekistan. The ADB leader also thanked President Islam Karimov for the support and the high level of preparations for the 6th Asian Forum of Solar Energy in Tashkent.