Page 40 - bne magazine July 2022_20220704

40 I Cover story bne July 2022
to extend his support and Minister Shermatov’s trade delegation has meetings in Washington with the State Department, USAID and on Capitol Hill. The US is keen to counter Russian influence in the former Soviet space. Uzbekistan is – arguably – the only country in the region whose foreign policy is not dictated by Moscow.
And Uzbekistan has an in to the US market via the Nasdaq listed EPAM software company. Originally founded in Belarus, EPAM was instrumental
in setting up the Minsk High Tech Park that catalysed a boom in that country’s IT outsourcing business. EPAM has long since moved its head office to New York, but the largest part of its engineers were still based in Minsk. However, since the mass protests against President Alexander Lukashenko broke out last year, now followed by war, EPAM has increased the number of its employees working in Tashkent from 300 to 3,000.
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Raising the profile
Shermatov, a Yale graduate, says
his job is to raise awareness – noting that when he got his Master’s Degree in 2000, he was always taken aback at how few people had even heard
of his country. Awareness of the new
In the 'Doing Business 2020' study by the World Bank, Uzbekistan was ranked among the world’s most improved economies for ease of doing business
– rising from 141st in 2015 to 69th.
The macroeconomic backdrop is also improving. In 2021, the economy grew at a record 7.4%, despite COVID-19 and global economic turbulence. Even during the height of the pandemic in 2020, Uzbekistan’s economy grew 1.6%, one of the few countries to show any increase.
Uzbekistan’s economic reforms, including price and currency liberalisation, are also helping the country make friends. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development recently resumed lending there after a decade-long hiatus. And
it’s not just the EBRD. The World Bank, the IMF and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) are all providing financing to support Uzbekistan’s reforms.
Economically speaking, it’s hard to overstate the importance of IT for the country. The average monthly wage in Uzbekistan is still less than $200
a month. To achieve the country’s aim of halving poverty and reaching upper-middle-income status by 2030, Uzbekistan needs more and better jobs, according to the World Bank.
Are a few short years of reforms and rebuilding enough to convince US executives to make deals with a country that few of them can pick out on a map? “We have qualified specialists, we
“In the 'Doing Business 2020' study by the World Bank, Uzbekistan was ranked among the world’s most improved economies for ease of doing business”
Uzbekistan is still a hurdle 22 years on. Despite being named “Country of the Year” by The Economist in 2019, with an aggressive reform agenda, Central Asia’s most populous nation needs to do more to raise its profile.
have experience and we are ready with the infrastructure as well,” said Minister Shermatov. “Before, it was always through the other countries, Poland, Belarus, Russia, others; now it is time to go and work directly with US companies because we are ready.”