On March, 4th, the EBRD jointly with StrategEast presented the EBRD Transition Report 2021-22 “System upgrade: delivering the digital dividend.”

The report and its implications for Uzbekistan were presented by Ms Zsoka Koczan, Senior Economist at the EBRD Office of the Chief Economist, and Mr Eric Livny, Lead Regional Economist for Central Asia. Welcome remarks were given by Jamol Maxsudov, Deputy Minister for the Development of Information Technologies and Communications of the Republic of Uzbekistan for Telecommunication Infrastructure Issues and Alkis Vryenios Drakinos, Head, EBRD Resident Office in Uzbekistan.

Speaking at the expert panel discussion on Uzbekistan’s digital readiness and economic performance, Anatoly Motkin, President of StrategEast, has reflected on EBRD’s Transition Report and shared lessons learned from regional digitalization initiatives and their implications for Uzbekistan and Central Asia.

The panel speakers also included Aliya Azbanova, INHA University in Tashkent and Bahodir Ayupov, Deputy Director, IT Park Uzbekistan.
The EBRD Transition Report 2021-22 provides an assessment of macroeconomic performance and progress in transition by combining regional comparisons with detailed analysis of the reform process in each country of the Bank’s operations, including Uzbekistan, and serves as a rich source of data for policy-makers, researchers, academics and businesses. This year’s Transition Report has a strong focus on digitalization, exploring the size of the digital divides in EBRD economies, the digital infrastructure and its link to firm performance, teleworking, artificial intelligence and the labour force, as well as FinTech and banks in transition. The report covers these issues through a combination of comparative analysis and in-depth review of digitalization challenges in specific countries, including Uzbekistan.