The Uzbek Ministry of Energy hosted an international webinar on current and future developments in the country’s energy sector in cooperation with bne IntelliNews that was hosted by Ben Aris, the editor-in-chief of bne IntelliNews.

Uzbek president Shavkat Mirziyoyev launched a five-year reform plan in 2019 and it is well underway. The state-owned power company Uzbekenergo has already been unbundled into its respective generation, distribution and transmission parts in a prelude to privatisation. A draft market-based legal framework has also been drafted and will be introduced soon that will underpin the effort to attract investment.

The state-owned oil company Uzbekneftegaz has also been restructured and shorn of all its supervision functions as part of an effort to turn it into a classic exploration and production company.

Finally a major push has started to attract foreign investment into renewables and several projects have already begun. The government is committed to building up renewables to make them a larger part of the energy mix.

Bottom line is energy reforms are one of the most active and most advanced parts of the new government’s effort to modernise the economy.

This podcast is an abridged audio version of the longer webinar which you can see on YouTube here.

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Ben Aris, editor-in-chief, bne IntelliNews

Bekhzot Narmatov, Deputy Minister of Energy, Uzbekistan 

Bakhrom Umarbekov, Deputy Director, Reforms Implementation Office, Uzbekistan