At the beginning of the meeting, the guests thanked the Government of Uzbekistan for the warm welcome. The representatives of the World Bank also expressed their readiness to support the projects being implemented in Uzbekistan and further development of cooperation.

For reference: The World Bank's Regional Director for Human Development in Europe and Central Asia, Fadia Saadakh, is on a working visit to Uzbekistan from June 2 to 7, 2023 and participates in discussions with representatives of government agencies to support the development of human capital in Uzbekistan.

The meeting was attended by Deputy Minister of Economy and Finance Ilkhom Norkulov and heads of relevant structures, as well as the head of the World Bank's Healthcare practice Tanya Dmitrichenko and Project Manager Rahimzhan Assangaziev.

Cooperation projects with Uzbekistan in the field of education, healthcare and social protection were discussed on the agenda of the meeting.

"We see that in Uzbekistan a lot of attention is paid to human capital and human potential. The past period of the pandemic has further expanded Uzbekistan's opportunities to implement World Bank projects in the field of health," Fadia Saadakh said.

Representatives of the World Bank were informed that in recent years, systematic work has been carried out in our country to strengthen social protection of the population, expand the scope and types of state social services for citizens, introduce a completely new management system based on advanced international standards into this area, and a National Social Protection Agency has been created for this purpose.

At the end of the meeting, the parties agreed on important aspects of expanding cooperation on ongoing joint projects.