From Law to Practice: ADB Supports Uzbekistan’s Next Phase of Insolvency Reform
The ADB Law and Policy Reform (LPR) Program, under the Office of the General Counsel, has reached a major milestone in its insolvency reform partnership with Uzbekistan. It launched the 820-page Commentary on the Law of the Republic of Uzbekistan “On Insolvency," as well as convened 30 economic court judges and undertook a diagnostic of the country’s insolvency framework. The work now moves to the next challenge: helping translate the law into an effective system for rehabilitation, restructuring, and productive recycling of capital.
The Commentary was developed by the Supreme Court of Uzbekistan and ADB, with input from the State Assets Management Agency and support from Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung. The Commentary combines an article-by-article examination of the 2022 law by national experts alongside international perspectives from John Martin, an international insolvency law expert. On 26 October 2026, the Commentary then served as the basis for a judges’ roundtable where the Supreme Court convened 30 economic court judges, including judges from regional courts, for an open discussion of their experiences applying the Insolvency Law, with particular attention to rehabilitation proceedings.
On 27 October, the Commentary was formally presented to the Supreme Court, bringing together the Chairperson and Deputy Chairperson of the Supreme Court, the Deputy Minister of Justice, and representatives of various institutions involved in the insolvency system. The event featured substantive panel discussions on judicial oversight and effective insolvency proceedings, as well as on rehabilitation and the future direction of insolvency reform.
The process of developing the Commentary opened a wider dialogue with the Ministry of Justice on law reform, institutional development, capacity building, and changes in legal practice needed to make the insolvency framework effective, pursuant to Presidential Decree 78 on the reform of the insolvency system. ADB thus conducted a broader diagnostic review, interviewing eight agencies and organizations across Uzbekistan’s insolvency ecosystem. The consultations helped clarify Uzbekistan’s immediate reform priorities and will shape the next phase of ADB’s partnership with the government, which entails enabling private sector development through the establishment of healthy and robust insolvency systems.