TASHKENT, 19 August 2021: The United Nations Development Programme trained more than 60 representatives from 15 ministries this week at a two-day online seminar geared to optimize the opportunities afforded by international private capital for the public good. The instruction comes in the wake of the 2 July issuance of Uzbekistan’s Sovereign Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Bond, which is expected to facilitate investments from private funds to finance public SDG-oriented programmes.  

UNDP widely supports this initiative of Uzbekistan and has been working closely with the Government of Uzbekistan to better align its issuance of sovereign bonds with the SDGs, and to better ensure the transparency and accountability of public borrowing.

Akhadbek Khaydarov, Deputy minister of finance of the Republic of Uzbekistan said that: “we will apply this approach to other projects financed by State budget and external borrowings in the future. In this sense, we firmly believe that these trainings will help us to build appropriate capacity in working with ESG and SDG-linked financial instruments and serve as a cornerstone for future development and SDG projects”.

During the workshop, ministry participants learnt about Uzbekistan’s SDG Bonds Framework, and how proceeds can be tracked, allocated, and managed in line with internationally-recognized standards. The training also included different dimensions of sustainable development within the context of a Green Economy. The International Capital Market Association’s (ICMA) principles for market compliance were covered in detail.

Chris Smith, Co-Head and Managing Director EMEA - Bankers without Boundaries said that building capacity and knowledge of the Sustainable Development Goal Bond Framework and how it will function is critical to its implementation. “The attendance from such a wide range of ministry attendees is a clear demonstration of the intent of Uzbekistan to make progress against the SDGs” – he said.

The workshop was organized under the UN’s Joint Programme on Establishing an Integrated National Financing Framework for Sustainable Development in Uzbekistan (INFF), funded by the Joint SDG Fund, which was established by the UN Secretary-General to work across all 17 global goals to transform development practices by incentivizing and enabling new and innovative development approaches.

Background

The Joint SDG Fund aims to support Resident Coordinators and UN Country Teams to partner with Governments in order to stimulate uptake of integrated and transformative policies leading to the creation of smart financing strategies that put SDG progress into high gear at global, regional, and country levels. It was formed with contributions of the following donor countries: Denmark, EU, Germany, Ireland, Luxembourg, Monaco, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland.

For more information: Bekhzod Umarov, UNDP: bekhzod.umarov@undp.org

Tel.: +998933977599