LAUREA GERMANY: from initial steps to social initiatives.

– Mr. Krol, first of all, allow me to ask you perhaps the simplest question – how did a small enterprise from Hamburg choose Uzbekistan, considering that operating within the EU is more familiar to you, and Uzbekistan is not only geographically distant but also different in mentality?

– That's absolutely correct, Germany and Uzbekistan represent Western Europe and Central Asia, which entails differences in business practices, mentality, and overall experiences. I’ll let you in on a little secret; our firm had a small “bonus” in the form of our founder, who spent his childhood and obtained his bachelor's degree in Tashkent and has been living in Bremen for over 20 years. In autumn 2015, a university friend of our founder, who is our representative in Tashkent, invited me to Tashkent and Samarkand and suggested a small project in Uzbekistan through me to the shareholders. The shareholders of LAUREA GERMANIA supported this idea. In spring 2016, we went through the process of initial accreditation and opened a representative office in Tashkent. The foundation of our operations in your country is undoubtedly the people who understand the country and its peculiarities, and it is this knowledge that led to a natural desire to develop business activities in Uzbekistan.

– What services does your firm provide in Germany and what about the market in Uzbekistan?

– This year marks our 14th anniversary. Our services include strategic consulting, legal support, corporate security, sports management, communication equipment projects, and financing international projects from our shareholders' fund.

The economy of Uzbekistan is undergoing transformation, and therefore not all of our services may be in demand in your market today. Nevertheless, we have already tested nearly all our services in your market in one form or another, and in 2024, we consulted a client from Tashkent exclusively in the field of German law for the first time, which was pleasant news for me since I personally oversee legal support in Germany and representation in Tashkent within our team.

– How do you evaluate the results of your activities in Uzbekistan over the entire period, which is almost 10 years?

– Without a doubt, we have room for improvement. During our operations, we faced the pandemic, and armed crises continue around the world, which has also impacted and complicated our activities. I will answer, perhaps, like any entrepreneur, especially as a director responsible for results to shareholders – we can never be satisfied and must constantly strive forward, as only profit allows for the realization of new projects. If I speak specifically and in detail about us, I will highlight a few examples.

First. The activities of our representative office in Uzbekistan are based on a unique project related to communication equipment; since spring 2017, we have been the dealer of products from the world-renowned Australian company Barrett Motorola Solutions in Uzbekistan.

Second. The project of our subsidiary AF Sports Reactive for exclusive cooperation with Tashkent's PFC "Lokomotiv" from 2019 to 2021, which, despite the pandemic, reached self-sufficiency in 2020, was innovative for the club; unfortunately for us, the project was closed because the project author moved to another football club in the summer of 2021 upon invitation.

Third. The investment project of our subsidiary, the German LLC "Media Wallet" from Hamburg, celebrated its 5th anniversary in autumn 2024 and is a co-founder of a foreign enterprise in Tashkent. At the beginning of 2024, the Israeli-German company with 100% foreign investments, LLC "Intis Telecom Asia," launched a service and successfully entered the telecommunications market of Uzbekistan.

Fourth. In 2023, we dedicated our corporate 13th anniversary (in November 2023) to Uzbekistan, and I take special pride in highlighting that the conference "Successful Business Stories in Uzbekistan" at our headquarters in Hamburg was organized in collaboration with the General Consulate of Uzbekistan in Frankfurt am Main.

Fifth. In April 2024, I had the privilege of giving a couple of lectures at the Diplomatic Academy of the University of World Economy and Diplomacy (UMED), and here I will also note the factor of people – it is the graduates (bachelors) of this Tashkent university who form the foundation of our activities.

In October 2024, I presented the LAUREA GERMANIA award named after Jan Welman (in memory of our first director) at a Tashkent school, which our founder graduated from many years ago, and that is why we chose School No. 60 for our social responsibility in Uzbekistan. Here we can return to the factor of people; in Uzbekistan, we are connected not only with one of the top universities in the country but also with one of the best schools in the city of Tashkent. I was very pleased to interact with the students and invite the laureate of the award for the 2024/2025 academic year along with their parents to our representative office in Tashkent.

On behalf of our team, I would like to thank the television channel "Uzbekistan 24" for producing a small news segment about the first award ceremony; it was touching for our firm and, of course, for the school's staff. I hope that in the 2025/26 academic year, I will be able to personally present the award again, and the ceremony will be just as festive and joyful for the future laureate. It is worth noting that the late first director of LAUREA GERMANIA, Mr. Welman, was previously the executive director of the Bremen Cotton Exchange before joining us and was well-acquainted with Uzbekistan.

– You often attend events organized by Uzbekistan's foreign institutions and were invited as an independent observer from the German business sector at the constitutional referendum, the extraordinary elections of the head of state, and the parliamentary elections in Uzbekistan. Can you share your impressions?

– I had the opportunity to personally visit the embassies of Uzbekistan in Berlin, Madrid, and Paris, as well as the General Consulate of Uzbekistan in Frankfurt am Main, with which I have developed friendly relations; again, I will highlight the factor of people. Our founder and the consul of Uzbekistan in Frankfurt played football together as children, which I learned for the first time in Frankfurt. I enjoy attending events organized for Uzbek citizens in Germany because each time it is an opportunity to communicate and gain a deeper understanding of the nuances of a culture that is new to me.

For me, as a German lawyer, it is an honor to be invited as an independent observer for the electoral process. I want to emphasize that even before my work at LAUREA GERMANIA, I prepared many judges and prosecutors in Germany in my examination courses; however, it was in Uzbekistan in spring 2023 that I was an independent observer at a referendum for the first time in my life. The invitation as an observer at the referendum and elections is a pleasant acknowledgment of our activities in Uzbekistan, and I would like to express my gratitude once again to the Central Election Commission of Uzbekistan, the General Consulate of Uzbekistan in Frankfurt am Main, and the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Uzbekistan, Olimjon Abdullaev, for the invitations and trust.

– Abduazim Abdusamatovich, you are indeed the university friend of the founder. How do you evaluate the activities of the representative office since its accreditation?

That’s right, we studied together and completed our bachelor's degrees.

In spring 2022, I was appointed head of the representative office, so I can only summarize the results for the last three years. We managed to partially finance and reorganize two presentation demonstrations of communication equipment with our partners from Israel and Australia in 2023 and 2024.

In terms of overall performance evaluation, I agree with the director. We cannot afford to be satisfied and must improve, as only net profit is an indicator of successful commercial activity.

– How often do you meet with the director, and what language do you communicate in?

– In 2023 and 2024, we meet twice a year, and in spring 2024, our director spent almost two weeks in Uzbekistan. I want to emphasize that our director has visited various parts of Uzbekistan, and I would be very pleasantly surprised if I meet an ethnic German or Dane who knows Uzbekistan better than Zörən aka.

We communicate in English, as I have never studied German, while our director speaks English, Danish, and German, and has also made good progress in the Russian language. I am confident that this is not the end, and he will learn Uzbek in the future.

– What tasks has the management in Hamburg set for the representative office for 2025?

– In the autumn, we received very positive feedback after conducting a presentation and demonstration of communication equipment in Uzbekistan.

We will strive to complete this process by signing the relevant contracts and agreements.