Chambers of Gera and Tashkent launch cooperation

As from March 2007, the German Chamber of Commerce and Industry (IHK) Gera (Eastern Thuringia) is providing assistance to the Uzbek Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI) located in Tashkent as well as several regional chambers. The project is governed by the framework of the BMO partnership programme funded by the German BMZ. The collaboration focuses on the development of demand-oriented services for SMEs and the organizational and institutional strengthening of the BMOs in Uzbekistan.

In September 2004, CCI Uzbekistan has been established following an initiative of President Karimov. From the viewpoint of the Uzbek government, the chamber is supposed to accompany the country's process of transformaton into a market economy. CCI's central office in Tashkent is presently staffed with about 40 motivated people, most of them young university graduates.

On provincial level and via centres for consultation and information on district level the chamber has access to regional structures. After 2 years, CCI Uzbekistan presently finds itself in a decisive phase. Will it be able to develop towards a genuine instrument of self-administration of the country's economy, or will it become an appendix of state-run institutions?