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On the sidelines of the COP31 climate summit in Antalya, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev met separately with Green Climate Fund Executive Director Mafalda Duarte and EBRD President Odile Renaud-Basso, the presidential press service reported on Monday.
In his meeting with Duarte, Mirziyoyev reviewed progress in the partnership with the Green Climate Fund and discussed expanding cooperation on climate-change adaptation and mobilising climate finance. The joint project portfolio with the fund has now exceeded $200 million, according to the press service. The president welcomed the approval of a regional programme to build climate-resilient landscapes across Central Asia.
The two sides agreed to focus on ensuring that Uzbekistan’s financial institutions gain direct access to GCF resources, and on forming a large-scale climate investment programme. That programme is envisaged to cover the ecological restoration of the Aral Sea region and the development of green cities. Both parties agreed to strengthen the partnership and advance new joint projects.
EBRD: Six Years as the Region’s Largest Partner
In his meeting with Renaud-Basso, Mirziyoyev discussed practical steps to deepen the strategic partnership with the EBRD. Uzbekistan has been the bank’s largest financial partner in the region for six consecutive years. The total project portfolio has surpassed $7 billion, and in 2025 the volume of bank operations exceeded $1 billion for the first time.
The bank’s contribution to green-economy development was assessed positively: nearly 60 percent of EBRD investments in Uzbekistan are directed at projects in that sector.
The two sides identified priority areas for the coming year: modernising electricity infrastructure, developing agriculture and the food sector, advancing privatisation in the banking sector, launching the Tashkent International Financial Centre, and promoting public-private partnership projects. Preparations for the next meeting of the Foreign Investors’ Council, scheduled for 2027, were also discussed.