International forum in Tashkent champions transparent business

Running a business successful Uzbekistan has go easier successful caller years, pinch caller mechanisms designed to support entrepreneurs and trim bureaucracy.

One of nan cardinal players successful this process is nan Business Ombudsman – a authorities assemblage established successful 2017 to safeguard business interests and reside administrative barriers.

The institution tin analyse complaints, good officials for violations, and correspond entrepreneurs’ interests earlier authorities agencies aliases successful court.

This week, it brought together location and world partners for nan International Forum of Business Ombudsmen and nan Fourth Forum connected Business Integrity successful Tashkent – a gathering focused connected really to make business rules clearer and much accordant crossed borders.

The arena gathered much than 250 participants from 10 countries, including representatives of nan OECD, UN Office connected Drugs and Crime and OSCE.

Uzbekistan’s evolving exemplary of business protection

“Transparency and spot are nan cornerstones of adjacent regulation,” says to Euronews Jamshid Urunov, Deputy Business Ombudsman of Uzbekistan. “Our main task is to protect nan authorities and morganatic interests of entrepreneurs and to guarantee that their relationship pinch nan authorities is built connected openness and nan norm of law.”

The institute handles appeals connected taxation, onshore use, banking and licensing done its Virtual Office for Entrepreneurs – a 24-hour level that allows businesses to record complaints and suggestions online.

Between January and 1 October 2025, nan portal registered 6,903 appeals and 7,898 questions from entrepreneurs. Most submissions came done nan Call Centre (5,077), followed by nan business.gov.uz website (1,060) and mobile section receptions (766). Not each complaints impact violations: galore interest advice, archiving aliases thief successful resolving day-to-day issues faced by mini and mean enterprises.

During nan first 9 months of nan year, 67 administrative reports were revenge against officials for mishandling cases, and 4 charismatic submissions were sent to agencies to reside missed deadlines. The Office besides helped entrepreneurs unafraid astir €1.1 cardinal successful loans, retrieve €720,000 successful financial claims, and get refunds of €350,000 successful overpaid taxes.

“We activity to destruct nan causes of those complaints,” Urunov explains. “That’s why we clasp regular speech pinch business representatives astir legislative gaps and barriers. We besides beforehand morals and firm responsibility, for illustration done nan Anti-Corruption Business Charter, which has already agreed hundreds of entrepreneurs committed to integrity.”

Uzbekistan’s exemplary combines ineligible protection, integer monitoring systems specified arsenic nan Unified State Control platform, which logs each inspections to forestall unauthorized checks and training connected business ethics.

As Mila Crnorač Bajić, President of nan Ethics and Compliance Committee of AmCham Bosnia and Herzegovina, told Euronews, Bosnia does not yet person a business ombudsman institution. “Uzbekistan’s strategy stands retired because it tin enactment quickly,” she said. “It tin rumor fines straight and intervene without waiting for a tribunal ruling. That is thing we want to study erstwhile processing our ain model.”

Regional collaboration for shared standards

Delegates from neighbouring countries besides shared their experience. Iylmaz Safaraul, Advisor to nan Business Ombudsman successful Kazakhstan, said that Central Asia’s ombudsmen are building location practice connected finance protection.

“Our agency has reviewed hundreds of appeals successful caller years,” he said. “The system helps some to protect entrepreneurs and to amended nan finance climate.”

From Azerbaijan, Sevda Husainova, compliance head astatine SOCAR Midstream Gas Operations, described really firm compliance programmes are expanding successful nan backstage sector. “At SOCAR, we’ve introduced corruption and sanctions screening, third-party consequence assessments and integrity audits,” she said. “Such systems are now becoming communal believe among ample companies successful Azerbaijan.”

Global partners and a shared governance agenda

International partners opportunity that Central Asia’s efforts connected business integrity bespeak wider governance reforms. Antti Karttunen, OSCE Representative successful Uzbekistan, noted that building integrity and reducing administrative barriers stay nan main conditions for a competitory economy.

From nan United Nations Development Programme, Akiko Fujii, UNDP Representative successful Uzbekistan, pointed to nan remaining challenges: “Uzbekistan has made advancement successful digitalizing nationalist services and expanding accountability, but much needs to beryllium done to fortify anti-corruption systems and justness mechanisms,” she said.

Business integrity successful practice

The word business integrity refers to nan ethical and transparent behaviour of companies – compliance pinch nan law, responsible behaviour, and openness successful relations pinch authorities and society. Forum participants said that measures specified arsenic transparent inspections, integer reporting and voluntary charters already thief trim administrative unit connected entrepreneurs.

In Uzbekistan, these devices are making business regularisation clearer and procedures much predictable. Discussions focused connected really integer platforms tin trim unnecessary inspections, really authorities tin trim uncertainty, and really entrepreneurs tin trust connected straightforward rules erstwhile moving pinch authorities authorities.