ANTALYA, November 14. /Dunyo IA/.   Gulshan Vashistha, Head of the Financial Strategic Cooperation Unit at the international organization – the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI), commented for Dunyo IA on the outcomes of the participation of the President of Uzbekistan in the UN Climate Summit of World Leaders held in the city of Antalya on November 10–11^th:

- GGGI supports Uzbekistan and a number of institutions in the country in the sphere of sustainable finance. We have accomplished quite a lot: the volume of what has been achieved with Uzbekistan exceeds US$1.5 billion, including in our work with SQB and Agrobank. GGGI supports many banks in Uzbekistan, and this has become a very strong example not only for the country, but for the entire region. Everyone in the region asks us how to replicate what has been achieved in Uzbekistan. Therefore, we are very proud of our work here.

The largest initiative that Uzbekistan is putting forward today is the “Aral” program. This represents climate-smart agriculture and investments in the agrarian sector together with multilateral development banks, such as the EBRD, of which we are a partner. This is a very strong program because it creates a mechanism through which the farming community will gain greater access to financing.

Farmers in Uzbekistan need support, especially women: according to my estimates, 40–45% of the country's farming population are women. Together with the EBRD, we will ensure that farmers have access to financing.

President of Uzbekistan has truly laid the groundwork. Development means technical assistance: reliable projects and programs are needed at the national level. The second aspect is attracting investments. Therefore, the call of the President of Uzbekistan to international organizations is very sound: then what is happening at the national level can be aligned with international standards and methodologies. This is precisely how global financing will come to Uzbekistan.

It is very important that the preparation of such projects is coordinated at the national level, while coordination takes place through intergovernmental organizations such as GGGI. Then we will be able to attract international financing into the country. This is a very clear signal that this is a path of growth and it works for Uzbekistan. It needs to be scaled up many times over.