From 2020, the VAT rate for the transit of empty containers and wagons through the territory of the Russian Federation from a foreign country that is not a member of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) will be reduced from 20% to 0%.

It is expected that the reduction of the rate will lead to an increase in the income of freight forwarding companies and will create more favorable conditions for foreign shippers.

Please find more information at: https://schneider-group.com/en/news/cargo-transportation-through-russia-will-be-cheaper/

© SCHNEIDER GROUP

"

Atyrau Hub announced "Energy Challenge" competition based on the accelerator principles to solve a number of current local problems in energy sphere.

Atyrau Energy Challenge is a marathon of programmers, developers, webmasters, stimulating the emergence and development of new ideas that contribute to the facilitation of operational processes in the oil and gas industry.

Participants

Participants are allowed to participate in the "Atyrau Energy Challenge" both personally and as a team.

• Individual over 16 years of age
  
• Experience more than 6 months in the oil and gas industry
• Willingness to work in a team formed by the Organizer
• Team not more than 4 people
• Possible team roles: backend developer, frontend developer, fullstack developer, UI / UX designer, data analyst, product Manager, and business analyst
• Mandatory availability of competencies in backend-and frontend-development to create software product
• The team can be supplemented by the Organizer with the necessary competencies for request

Ground-breaking changes are now in force impacting Canadian export controls and certain activities abroad regarding export controlled goods and technology.

Earlier this month Canada became a State Party to the United Nations Arms Trade Treaty (ATT), a treaty establishing standards for international trade in a broad range of conventional arms that currently counts more than 100 State Parties. To meet its ATT obligations Canada amended the Export and Import Permits Act (EIPA) and adopted a package of brokering regulations, namely, the Brokering Control List, Brokering Permit Regulations, Regulations Specifying Activities that Do Not Constitute Brokering, General Brokering Permit No 1, and General Export Permit No 47 (ATT Package). This ATT Package came into force on September 1, 2019. Please see our previous publication on the brokering controls and new standards for export and brokering permits here.

The newly-established legislative scheme imposes controls over brokering activities. This is a significant development for Canadian industry as this is the first time such controls have been introduced in Canada. Therefore, anyone involved in international trade in defence goods or technology should review the ATT Package thoroughly, and assess the implications for their business activities. 

- How Did We Get Here?

- Extraterritorial Application

- Definition of Brokering

- Items That Fall Under the Brokering Controls

- The New Substantial Risk Test

- Assessing Substantial Risk

- Mitigating Factors

- Export to the United States

- Implementation

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(c) by  John W. Boscariol, Carmen Francis, Oksana Migitko at McCarthy Tetrault

Over 180,000 citizens of Khujand, the second-largest city in Tajikistan, will have regular access to safe drinking water and improved wastewater services thanks to a joint investment of $8.85 million by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO), Trend reports with reference to EBRD.

Through their contributions, the two institutions have financed a wastewater treatment plant that was launched on September 13 at a ceremony attended by Mayor of Khujand Maruf Muhammadzoda and representatives of SECO and the EBRD. Specialised equipment for wastewater treatment management was handed over to the Khujand Water Company.

The rehabilitation program at the Khujand wastewater treatment plant began in late 2018 and addressed the key issues of modernisation and rehabilitation. It also included the replacement of sewerage collectors and pipes, the rehabilitation of the water supply network, the installation of specialised meters and other essential improvements.

The newly rehabilitated plant will help the Khujand Water Company significantly improve the quality of water discharged to the Syr-Darya River, which will have a positive impact on the local and regional environment.

The investment was supported by grants from the EBRD and SECO, collectively worth $1.4 million.

Since 2004, Switzerland has committed over $90 million to water, wastewater and solid waste projects across Tajikistan. Over this period, more than half a million people gained access to affordable and safe drinking water in the rural and urban areas of the country.

A special visa for foreign investors - the Investment visa - is being introduced in Uzbekistan, a Podrobno.uz correspondent reports.

This is stipulated by a presidential decree (No UP-5833, dated 19 September 2019), which made an amendment to the list of new additional (non-electronic) types of entry visas for certain groups of foreigners, who visit Uzbekistan.

In line with the approved amendment, the Investment visa will be added to the list of the existing Vatandosh, Student visa, Academic visa, Medical visa and Pilgrim visa.

The investment visa will be issued for foreigners and entities without citizenship, who have invested in the Uzbek economy no less than 8,500 times the basic calculation value [The basic calculation value is equal to 223,000 soms or about 23 dollars]. This visa will be issue for the period of three years.

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(c) Podrobno.uz 

Uzbekistan plans to sign at least three deals with large foreign energy companies this year and five more next year as it aims to boost its natural gas output, chief executive of state energy firm Uzbekneftegaz said on Friday.

The list of potential partners in exploration and development agreements includes BP (BP.L), Total (TOTF.PA), Azerbaijan's SOCAR, Russia's Rosneft (ROSN.MM) and Novatek (NVTK.MM), Bakhodir Sidikov said on the sidelines of an energy conference in Tashkent.

Potential investors are seeking guarantees that they would be able to export whatever they produce, Sidikov said, but Tashkent is instead offering them guaranteed offtake at prices "at which the project makes economic sense."

We have some projects where if you use the international price you can get 60% IRR (internal rate of return)," he said. "Nobody expects 60% IRR."

Asked what profitability levels he considered acceptable, Sidikov said: "Between 11 and 15-16%."

Next year, Sidikov said, Tashkent plans to sign five more agreements.

Uzbekistan started actively working on attracting foreign investment after President Shavkat Mirziyoyev took over in late 2016 following the death of his predecessor Islam Karimov.

Among the challenges faced by the resource-rich nation of 32 million in its quest to bring in investors was the fact that all of its geological data was only available on paper and in the Russian language, Sidikov said. Tashkent is now working with Schlumberger to build a digital geological database.

Sidikov said Uzbekneftegaz, which produces 42 billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas - out of Uzbekistan's total output of 63 bcm, aimed to add 4-5 bcm to the figure next year to ensure it can fully meet domestic demand.

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Reuters

Together with the World Bank, International Financial Corporation (IFC) is currently in discussions with the government of Uzbekistan to act as a lead transaction advisor for the tendering of a public-private partnership for the design, construction, operation, and maintenance of a new combined-cycle gas turbine near the existing Syrdarya thermal power plant, IFC Country Officer for Uzbekistan Zafar Khashimov told Trend in an interview.

"The project will help increase efficiency for gas-fired electricity generation and support a reliable power supply in the country," he added.

Considering Uzbekistan's investment attractiveness to foreign capital, Khashimov noted that during the past two years, the government has made significant progress in advancing difficult economic reforms.

"In addition to liberalizing the foreign exchange regime, officials have improved the business and investment climate, reduced the state's presence in the economy, and adopted important legal reforms. The changes have definitely made the country more attractive to foreign investors," he stated.

IFC Country Officer for Uzbekistan added that many big challenges lie ahead and there are critical areas where the government needs to continue the work.

The work includes reducing the state's role in the economy, further developing infrastructure, boosting technology-enabled services, continuing to improve the investment climate, and implementing reforms of the banking, financial and energy sectors and land and agriculture reforms.

"These are all steps in the right direction, which we support. Together with the World Bank, we will continue encouraging the country's reform agenda with financial and technical assistance. We firmly believe that Uzbekistan has the potential to become an upper-middle income country by 2030, which is the government's goal," he underlined.

Recently Trend reported that IFC may take part in modernization of Syrdarya TPP.

IFC-a sister organization of the World Bank and member of the World Bank Group-is the largest global development institution focused on the private sector in developing countries. The Bank Group has set two goals for the world to achieve by 2030: end extreme poverty and promote shared prosperity in every country.

The President of Uzbekistan, Shavkat Mirziyoyev, has signed Resolution No. PP-4381 dated July 1, 2019 (the "Resolution"), which is aimed, inter alia, at further simplifying privatization procedures. The Resolution recognizes that public assets are often valued at exorbitant prices because of the lack of unified practices on their evaluation, which leads to delays in privatization and necessitates step-by-stop lowering of prices.

In this regard, the Resolution provides for the simplification of privatization procedures by allowing the following:

• Public assets may be sold at a price below the nominal value if public bidding leads to the reduction of the price below such a value;
• State-owned stakes in certain companies (the list of such companies is expected to be approved by the government) may be sold in the absence of pre-emptive rights of other shareholders through public bidding. The opening price shall be determined according to the net asset value as of January 1, 2019, based on the company's audited balance sheet;
• Investors may pay for the state-owned shares in national currency (i.e. Uzbekistani som) from their accounts at the clearing houses of commodity exchanges and from Loro accounts opened at Uzbekistani banks;
• Underwriters may operate without providing an auditor's report;
• Professional securities market participants may operate without providing a certificate of their education.

Moreover, the Resolution authorizes the Agency for Public Assets Management and state-owned enterprises to contract organizations (both domestic and foreign) as investment consultants without the need for the latter to obtain the license for carrying out the activities in the securities market until January 1, 2020. The foreign organization may operate in such capacity without establishing a local company.

• Uzbekistan's Asaka bank joins EBRD Trade Facilitation Programme
• US$ 20 million limit will help bank expand its trade finance product range  

The EBRD is providing a boost to domestic importers and exporters in Uzbekistan by opening a limit of up to US$ 20 million under the EBRD's Trade Facilitation Programme (TFP) to Asaka bank.

With 22 branches across Uzbekistan Asaka bank will be well-placed to provide financial resources to domestic companies willing to expand their trade operations.

The trade finance facility will help Asaka bank support import and export transactions, further develop its correspondent banking services and strengthen its trade finance product range.

The TFP promotes international trade to, from, and within the Bank's countries of operations, including Uzbekistan. Through the Programme, the EBRD provides guarantees to international confirming banks, taking the political and commercial payment risk of international trade transactions undertaken by banks in these countries.

This is EBRD's latest partner bank to join the programme in Uzbekistan. Trade Facilitation Programme will provide access to finance for exporters and importers, including SMEs, strengthen local capacity in compliance and advance trade finance skills.  The focus will be to support private sector transactions and facilitate trade for the "green" technologies, materials and services.

Following the reengagement with Uzbekistan in 2017, the EBRD TFP team has delivered 2 regional conferences and 6 training workshops, which were attended by approximately 500 domestic banking professionals. During 2019-2020 the EBRD will be working with the government to improve legislation and regulation in support of enhanced business environment for international trade finance products, including factoring and financial technologies. 

To date, the EBRD has invested €1.3 billion through 70 projects in the economy of Uzbekistan. Support of small businesses is particularly important as the country moves to reform its economy and strengthen its private sector.

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(c) The European Bank of Reconstruction and Development