By the decision of the Embassy of Uzbekistan in Warsaw, the Uzbekistan – Poland Cooperation Week is being held in the country from September 20 to 26 this year.

As part of the week, with the participation of the Family and Women’s Committee, the Embassy of the Republic of Uzbekistan in Poland, the Polish Women’s League, the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of Poland and the University of World Economy and Diplomacy, an international business forum of businesswomen of the two countries was held.

Speaking at the conference, the Chairperson of the Family and Women’s Committee, Ozoda Parpiboyeva, and others noted that in the renewed Uzbekistan, special attention is paid to women’s active participation in all spheres of social life. The necessary conditions, benefits, and opportunities are being created to support businesswomen’s activities.

In recent years, the number of businesswomen in the country has doubled, the number of women entrepreneurs who have opened their own businesses has exceeded 200,000, and the share of women in the economy and industry is 46%. More than 120 thousand small businesses and more than 4,550 farms are managed by women.

By the President’s decree, $100 million has been allocated this year to organize women’s small businesses and private entrepreneurship.

As of September 1 this year, 136 thousand 725 women have been allocated loans for more than 2.5 trillion UZS to support women’s entrepreneurial initiatives. In particular, People’s Bank provided 79 thousand 148 women with 968.9 million UZS, Microcreditbank – 47 thousand 54 women with 776.6 million UZS, Business Development Bank – 10 thousand 523 women with 774.2 million UZS.

Due to projects implemented by women, 148 thousand 352 new jobs have been created.

The goal is to increase the share of women in small and medium businesses from the current 25 percent to 40 percent in the next two years.

N. Usmanova, UzA