Uzbek businesses used to fear checks and law enforcement raids, spending their energy on survival rather than growth, businessman Jahongir Ortiqkhujaev said at an August 18 meeting with the president.
"There was a time when, hearts pounding with fear, we weren't thinking about growing our businesses — we were thinking about how to survive at all, Mr. President. Those difficult years, the so-called 'masks shows,' wore us down so much that the very word 'doing business' triggered anxiety," Ortiqkhujaev said in a segment aired by television channel Uzbekistan 24, using a term commonly applied in the region to raids carried out by masked security officers.
He said businesses lived under constant strain during that period.
"A businessman who built something through honest work lived in constant fear, as if he were a criminal. The businesses sitting here today, whose hair has gone gray, remember all too well how much hardship was inflicted on people simply for running a business," he said.
Artykhodjaev described today's business climate in far more favorable terms.
"Young businesses today are living, in a sense, in paradise. They should appreciate that. Businesses today can operate freely, without fear or anxiety, because we have a mountain of support standing behind us — our president," he said.
He added that businesses from neighboring countries and elsewhere, with whom he regularly speaks, have praised Uzbekistan's practice of direct dialogue between the president and the business community.
Maski Show
"Maski-show" (literally "Masks Show") is a slang term used to describe a sudden, forceful raid by armed security forces, special forces, or police wearing masks (balaclavas) and body armor. In economic and legal contexts, the term has become a symbol of heavy-handed state pressure on businesses, illegal audits, property seizures, and hostile corporate takeovers.
Until the mid-2010s, businesses in Uzbekistan often operated under a climate of fear. Businesses have said that law enforcement inspections and sudden "mask show" raids wore down the business environment, discouraging many from expanding their operations or leading to the loss of everything through unfounded criminal cases.
Since Shavkat Mirziyoyev assumed the presidency, curbing unlawful interference by security agencies in the economy has become a stated government priority. Uzbekistan began openly acknowledging that such raids had been used to seize businesses from their owners, and introduced a series of legislative restrictions and moratoriums on inspections of business entities.
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