AKIPRESS.COM - The European Union has granted 142 trillion Uzbek soums (EUR 11 Million) to the government’s budget for support of the strategic reforms benefiting the agri-food sector and rural livelihoods in Uzbekistan.

This is a third such transfer since the first quarter of 2020 bringing the total of the EU grant budget support to 414 trillion UZS (EUR 32 Million). The disbursement of funds was accelerated last year in view of the Covid-19 pandemic to support the government efforts in sustaining the progress of key reforms and to support the resilience of the most vulnerable rural population. It complements other projects of the EU and the EU Member States dedicated to the capacity building of institutions and engaging directly with the community of farmers, agri-businesses and the academia.

Uzbekistan was granted the enhanced EU General System of Preferences (GSP+) for trade. If well used, the GSP+ system should support agrifood producers in benefitting from duty free access when exporting to the EU, the EU Delegation to Uzbekistan said.

The EU grant budget support is a unique financing instrument, introduced in Uzbekistan for the first time in 2020. It is based on the agreement with the government of Uzbekistan to sustain a pace of reforms defined in the Uzbekistan Agri-food Development Strategy 2020-2030, and also to demonstrate progress in the implementation of reforms in the area of Public Finance Management, budget transparency, and effective measures for the macro-economic stability.