Young people who solve problems to be rewarded in Uzbekistan

In Uzbekistan, ministers and mayors will reward young people who provide solutions to problems. President Shavkat Mirziyoyev announced this yesterday, June 30, during a meeting with young people.

“We plan to increase the size of the economy to more than $240 billion by 2030. To achieve this, we need innovative startups that bring new ideas to all sectors,” the head of state said.

It was noted that over the past nine years, the local startup ecosystem has grown 15-fold and exceeded $4 billion. The number of venture funds has reached 23, with their total capital amounting to $200 million. During this period, more than 1,200 promising startup projects have emerged. More than 3,000 young people are earning high incomes in this field.

The work being carried out in this area is also being recognized by international organizations. A clear example of this is that Uzbekistan rose 31 places in the Global Startup Index and was named the fastest-growing startup ecosystem in the world and “Country of the Year 2026.”

The meeting also emphasized that there are still great opportunities in this field. From now on, every minister, sector leader and mayor will launch the project “1,000 problems — 1,000 solutions from young people.”

Under the project, each leader will post urgent problems in their system on an open platform and announce rewards for the best solutions. For this purpose, every minister and mayor will establish a venture fund worth at least 10 billion soums.

These funds will be used to reward winners and finance all stages, from idea to implementation, for 20 of the best startups.

The Youth Affairs Agency will select the 100 best projects in business, IT and the creative economy and invest up to 1 billion soums in each of them.

It is worth noting that during this meeting, Shavkat Mirziyoyev said there are many talented young people in Uzbekistan and that ministers and mayors should not be afraid to trust young people and appoint them to responsible positions.