The practice in Uzbekistan in the field of corporate governance was discussed

The International Investment Forum in Tashkent hosted a discussion on improving the corporate governance system, which is a key element of business environment development: international practice, Uzbekistan's experience and further steps.

The quality of corporate governance is one of the elements of building a stable economy, as well as one of the main aspects of competition for funds of global portfolio investors.

The discussions sought answers to such questions as what countries are doing to create quality corporate governance at the jurisdictional level, what portfolio investors want to see when considering a country as an object of new investments.

The following speakers took part in the discussion of the topic:

Denis Spirin, Steering Committee’s Member, Chapter Zero Uzbekistan

Jennifer Nordquist, Former Executive Director of the Economic Innovation Group of the World Bank Group in the United States

Olzhas Omarov, Director for Central Asia and the Caucasus, KPMG

Oleg Shvyrkov, Director, Board & Governance Services Morrow Sodali

Andrey Kopiakov, Senior Manager, Corporate Governance, Prosperity Capital Management Ltd.

George Dallas, Head of Content, European Institute of Corporate Governance (online)

During the session, George Dallas (Head of Content, European Institute of Corporate Governance) said that not only the market is being studied, but also what investors expect from Uzbekistan.

Foreign investors are usually concerned about macroeconomic threats, including legislation, regulatory stability and the level of competition in sectors.

As far as Uzbekistan is concerned, problems can be observed in issues such as control of investors, their roles, business relationships, corruption, familiarity and connection with the government. Also, transparency, independence in board governance. “We should not lose sight of the fact that boards should have independent directors,” said George Dallas.

Oleg Shvyrkov (Director of Board & Governance Services at Morrow Sodali) noted that the share of state-owned enterprises in the Uzbek market is large.

“We will give our recommendations to decision makers in Uzbekistan. We will further facilitate this by focusing on developing standards in the capital market in Uzbekistan,” said Oleg Shvyrkov.

Jennifer Nordquist, a member of the Economic Innovation Group, emphasized that board members of companies should be familiar with the financial market.

“Corporate governance is now developing in Uzbekistan. Various studies show that issues such as board composition, size and standing are being left behind.

Although the corporate governance code was introduced many years ago, only a limited number of people use it. The code is weak, various aspects, board work, governance work, definitions are not properly developed. That is why the country should develop areas of the code such as governance, control and tariffs,” said Olzhas Omarov, KPMG Director for Central Asia and the Caucasus.