As part of the strategy to accelerate the development of the financial technology market and stimulate the use of modern IT solutions in the field of financial and banking services, Uzbekistan has adopted a resolution ‘On measures for the further development of the financial technology sector in Uzbekistan’.
According to the document, the main targets for 2026–2030 include:
The Central Bank has been appointed responsible for the development of the financial technology sector and has been granted a number of additional powers. Within its framework, the following will be created:
From 2026, participants in the innovation hub will be able to receive compensation of up to 50% of the costs of training and attracting mentors, but not more than $20,000 and $50,000, respectively.
The programme provides for the introduction of an open banking system for the secure exchange of data between banks and fintech companies, the creation of the position of Chief Data Officer in the Central and Commercial Banks, and the development of a National Financial Technology Development Strategy for 2026-2030.
Particular attention is paid to expanding the use of crypto assets: from 1 January 2026, a special legal regime will be introduced to regulate the circulation of stable tokens as a means of payment, the issuance of tokenised shares and bonds will be permitted, and separate platforms will be created on stock exchanges for their placement and circulation.
A new free certified course has been launched on the AgriAcademy educational platform: ‘Peas. Biological characteristics of the crop’, dedicated to one of Ukraine’s key legumes. The curriculum has been developed by specialists from the agro-industrial holding company Astarta.
What is the course about?
The new training module takes a detailed look at the biological characteristics of peas that determine their yield potential. Students will learn:
The course will be useful for both practicing agronomists and managers, students or farmers who want to improve their approach to pea cultivation technology.
Who created the course?
The lead expert is Volodymyr Kuryachiy, one of the most renowned agronomists in the Poltava region with over 40 years of experience in production. At the Astarta-Kyiv agricultural holding, he headed the crop production department of the Dovzhenko Agricultural Firm for over ten years and has been working as the chief agronomist of the Poltava region since 2019.
The following people also worked on the course:
Certificate and accessibility
All AgriAcademy courses, including this one, are free of charge.
Students receive:
The course is available at any time, allowing farmers to study at their convenience without taking time off from their daily work.
Why is this important?
The demand for legumes is growing both due to the development of export markets and the need to restore soil fertility. Peas remain one of the most effective crops in crop rotation, and a proper understanding of their biology directly affects yield stability even in difficult climatic conditions.
The new course from Astarta and AgriAcademy provides agricultural producers with practical, scientifically based knowledge that can be applied as early as next season.
Farmers can join via the link on the AgriAcademy platform and start learning immediately after registration.
Other training courses from Astarta specialists are also available on the platform:
Astarta is a vertically integrated agro-industrial holding in Ukraine, a public European company that conducts socially responsible business and produces food products with a focus on global markets. Its main activities are concentrated in crop production, the sugar industry, dairy farming, soybean processing, grain logistics, and bioenergy.
AgriAcademy is a free online learning platform created on the initiative of the EBRD as part of its food security support programme in Ukraine. Its goal is to strengthen the competitiveness and sustainable development of agriculture, which has suffered significant losses due to the war.
The creation and management of the platform (including the development of courses, educational tours, etc.) is supported and financed by the EBRD, as well as:
One in six residents of the European Union lives in cramped housing, while approximately one in three lives in a household that is considered too spacious for the number of residents, according to Eurostat’s overview publication ‘Housing in Europe – 2025 edition’.
According to the statistics agency’s estimates, in 2024, about 17% of the EU population lived in overcrowded housing. The highest rates of ‘overcrowding’ were recorded in Romania (41%), Latvia (39%) and Bulgaria (34%).
The lowest rates of overcrowded housing were recorded in Cyprus (2%), Malta (4%) and the Netherlands (5%).
At the same time, about 33% of the EU population lives in ‘underoccupied’ housing – houses and flats that are considered too large for the number of people living in them.
The highest proportion of such households is in Cyprus (70%), Ireland (67%) and Malta (64%), and the lowest in Romania (7%), Latvia (10%) and Greece (13%).
Ukraine is offering holders of GDP warrants issued for a nominal amount of $2 billion 591.219 million to exchange them at a ratio of 1.34 for new amortized Eurobonds of Ukraine B maturing in 2030-2032 and to pay cash compensation of up to 7% for such an exchange, according to a proposal on the Irish Stock Exchange and Cabinet of Ministers Resolution No. 1554 of December 1.
It notes that Ukraine and the special committee of GDP warrant holders made significant progress on the terms of such an exchange in the next round of negotiations from November 25 to 30, but the search for full agreement will continue in the coming days in order to reflect the results of such consultations in the relevant amendments to the Memorandum of Exchange by December 5.
The basic terms provide that 45% of the principal amount of the new Eurobonds B will be redeemed on February 1, 2030, and 2031, while the remaining 10% will be redeemed on February 1, 2032.
The interest rate on these bonds will be 4% per annum from the date of placement until February 1, 2027, then 5.5% until August 1, 2029, and 7.25% per annum for the remaining period until maturity.
Holders of GDP warrants who agree to the exchange during the early acceptance period, up to and including December 12, will receive an additional cash payment of 7% ($70 for every $1,000 of the principal amount of GDP warrants), while those who do so between December 13 and 17 inclusive will receive 4.5%.
Finally, those who do not participate in the exchange, if it is approved, will receive other Eurobonds with a total ratio of 1.36 – Eurobonds B, which were issued during the restructuring of Eurobonds in 2024: at 0.68 – Eurobonds maturing in 2030 and 2034, with an interest rate of zero until February 1, 2027, 3% until August 1, 2033, and 7.75% per annum thereafter.
It is noted that the quorum for making a decision is 75% of the total nominal amount, and the decision is expected on December 22. At the same time, even with the consent of 50% of GDP warrant holders, Ukraine can initiate their delisting from the exchange.
According to the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, GDP warrants rose in price on Monday by 0.66% to 92.15% of their nominal value. The last time they were more expensive was in October 2021, after which their value fell below 20% of their nominal value in certain periods.
As reported, from October 16 to November 5, representatives of Ukraine held a series of limited negotiations with a special committee, which includes institutional holders of GDP warrants, during which the parties twice exchanged proposals for their restructuring without result.
Among the warrant holders are hedge funds Aurelius Capital Management LP and VR Capital Group. They are advised by Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP and PJT Partners Inc, while the Ukrainian side is advised by White & Case LLP and Rothschild & Co.
Following the autumn round of negotiations, the Ministry of Finance emphasized that Ukraine intends to continue working with warrant holders and consider all available options for their restructuring that are consistent with the three previously stated objectives: restoring debt sustainability in accordance with the IMF program; the commitments made during the restructuring of Eurobonds in August 2024 to distribute the burden appropriately among all commercial claims within the restructuring; the moratorium on warrant payments from May 31, 2025, until the completion of their restructuring, approved by the government on August 27, 2024.
Ukraine’s revised proposal during those autumn negotiations was to compensate for the missed payment on warrants for the 2023 reporting year, which was due on June 2, 2025, and to exchange the warrants for a partial cash payment and a new series of sovereign bonds (“C Bonds”). Under Ukraine’s proposal, holders of GDP warrants who agreed to this restructuring option would receive $60 in cash and C Bonds with a par value of $1,260 for every $1,000 of notional value of the warrants. These bonds would be redeemed in three equal installments on January 30, 2030, 2031, and 2032. Interest on them would be paid semi-annually at rates of 2.50% for 2026-2027, 4% for 2028-2029, and 6.00% for 2030-2032.
On 1 December, Ukrkhimtransammonia (Kyiv) announced a tender for liability insurance for business entities that use high-risk facilities, covering damage that may be caused as a result of emergencies.
According to the Prozorro electronic procurement system, the expected price in the tender is UAH 497,600.
The deadline for submitting applications is 9 December.
The first state-certified lobbyists have appeared in Ukraine. As of the end of November, 110 participants had been entered into the relevant Register, which is maintained by the National Agency for Corruption Prevention (NAZK), three months after the Law on Lobbying came into force. Among them are 55 companies, 54 individuals, and one foreign representative office. OpenDataBot analysed the purpose of such a Register and how it will affect business and the state.
The newly created NACP Transparency Register, also known as the lobbyist register, has 108 active participants. The list includes businesses, public organisations and ordinary citizens.
We are tracking changes on the Transparency Register (lobbyists) page on OpenDataBot.
You can find out about the first lobbyists in Ukraine on the Open Data Bot Lobbyist Register page. At the same time, if a company is a registered lobbyist, the corresponding marks will be added to the company’s card on its page in Open Data Bot.
In total, 110 participants have been registered since the Register began operating, but two subsequently suspended their participation. These include 55 companies, 54 individuals and one foreign representative office. Among them are businesses such as Philip Morris Ukraine, the Aurora chain of stores, Metro Cash & Carry Ukraine, ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih and Oschadbank, which are included in the Open Data Bot Index 2025.
The leader of this year’s Open Data Bot Index in the banking sector, Oschadbank, was one of the first financial institutions to join the Register. The company explains:
“For a bank whose activities are directly dependent on regulatory control, it is important to interact openly and legitimately with the National Bank and other state bodies. Registration in the Transparency Register allows us to operate within the legal framework, distinguishing between legitimate protection of interests and unacceptable forms of influence.”
Inna Boichuk, Director of Corporate Affairs at Aurora, one of the retail leaders in the Open Data Bot Index 2025, notes that the Law on Lobbying and the Register itself are only tools. In order for this mechanism to work and be truly effective in terms of ensuring transparency of influence on decision-making, it is necessary to work systematically to build trust around the newly created lobbying institution.
“This work should involve government stakeholders, business, the media and society as a whole. In particular, business should openly represent its positions, and the authorities should perceive and accept such interaction as a natural part of the democratic decision-making process. Therefore, at this stage, it would be fair to say that the aforementioned law and the Transparency Register are steps towards the formation of a mature culture of influence on the authorities,” comments Inna Boichuk.
Viktoria Kulikova, Head of the Committees Department at the European Business Association, also mentions the technical nuances during the process of establishing the system.
“We expect the Register to become a truly effective tool for transparent communication. At the same time, it is important to improve the legislation: clarify the definitions of concepts, simplify reporting, and provide practical incentives to registered participants. Only then will the system work effectively and promote accountability on all sides. In particular, the current reporting format is quite technically complex for large business associations that have many lobbying issues (regulatory acts to which the Association submits proposals), hundreds of lobbying beneficiaries (member companies) and a great deal of communication with lobbying targets (representatives of state bodies), information about which we will need to enter into the transparency register,” comments Victoria.
A similar opinion is held by the Union of Ukrainian Entrepreneurs, whose team participated in testing the Register before its launch and shared recommendations for improving interaction.
“For the system to work properly, it is important that there is two-way transparency: not only should businesses register and report, but MPs and government officials should also act transparently, honestly and comply with the law. And for the Register to work effectively, improvements to the legislation are needed, in particular clarification of terms, optimisation of reporting requirements and the establishment of additional incentives for registered lobbyists.”
The SUP notes that the main stage of interaction between newly created lobbyists and the state will begin in January 2026, when the first lobbying report will be submitted. It will be then that it will be possible to fully assess the work of the Register — its workload, functionality and ease of use.
OpenDataBot will track updates to the Lobbyist Register. Now, when checking companies or individuals in OpenDataBot services, users will see a mark indicating registration in the Register. This is another step towards transparency in the business environment and accountability of those who influence political decisions.
https://opendatabot.ua/analytics/lobbyists
