Asian Development Bank should more focus on six main priorities during its activity, an Uzbek First Deputy Prime Minister said at the 38th annual meeting of the ADB.

The 38th annual meeting of the ADB was organized in Istanbul of Turkey on 2-6 May and over 3,000 people attended the event.

Rustam Azimov, First Deputy Prime Minister and Economy Minister of Uzbekistan, said the ADB should be more focused on creation of modern educational system, development of the efficient healthcare system, development of small business and private entrepreneurship, transport infrastructure development, reforms in agricultural sector and regional cooperation.

Azimov, governor of ADB on the behalf of Uzbekistan, said: ?Uzbekistan is a kind of unique country that allocates almost 50% of the state budget expenditures for Education Development Program. At the same time my President Islam Karimov is confident that this is not merely expenditures, but the most reliable and promising investments in the generations to come and future prosperity of our nation.?

?It is important to note that all the educational cycles including the primary, secondary, professional and higher education should be interlinked and prepare our youth to be competitive in the global labor market and to respect the democratic values,? he said.

The development of the efficient healthcare system, which alongside with the paid medical services should ensure basic medical needs for all groups of population, especially for the children, women and vulnerable people, Azimov said.

Uzbek official said: ?Today, as never before, the support of the development of small business and private entrepreneurship is vitally important. The scale of such support should be significantly expanded. In developing assistance programs greater attention should be paid to microfinancing for entrepreneurs, especially for women trying to begin their own business.?

?We consider development of the educational system and the dynamic growth of SMEs as the crucial vehicle preventing and combating extremism and terror, which usually recruit uneducated young men from poor families.?

Transport Infrastructure Development that is the basis for the growth of internal and regional trade, as well as for the deepening integration of the economies of the region?s countries calls for a greater attention from the Bank, Azimov added.

?We are confident that successful agricultural sector reform is the most important condition for the general success of the market transformation process. The creation of the modern market infrastructure for rapidly growing classes of private farmers, along with decisive liquidation any subsidies to loss making and low profitable agricultural enterprises needs to be widely supported.?

Speaking about regional cooperation, Azimov said: ?It is important to note the unique and leading role of ADB in promoting regional cooperation in Asia. In this context, we strongly support President Kuroda? recent decision on establishing the Office of the Regional Economic Integration, which aims to further enhance and assists the integration initiatives in Asia.?

?We strongly believe that the most important impulse for the sustainable development in Central Asian countries is the successful implementation of the initiative of President Islam Karimov on creation of the Central Asian Common Market.?

He said this initiative envisages a step-by-step approach for establishing the free trade zone, followed by customs and eventually economic union in Central Asia.

?In this regard, we invite Asian Development Bank to act as the main advisor and coordinator of this genuinely historical process where Bank based on its previous experience in South East Asia could play a catalyst role,? Azimov added.