Tashkent held the inaugural Judo Economic Forum alongside the Judo World Championships ©IJF

Financial trends, technology, society and "IT supporting a prosperous future" were the themes for the inaugural Judo Economic Forum which took place here to coincide with Tashkent's hosting of the Judo World Championships. 

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was also signed to develop Uzbekistan's roads at the Judo Economic Forum.

The event was organised by the International Judo Federation (IJF), with discussions moderated by the governing body's President Marius Vizer.

It aimed to highlight sport's economic relationships and how events such as Tashkent 2022 can prove beneficial to host cities.

"Through this occasion we want to deliver a message to the world, a message of modernisation, development, innovation and accessibility and also a message of unity, friendship and peace," Vizer said.

"For that, the synergy between economy and sport is of the utmost importance.

"Sport is not only about medals and education, it is also about creating connection mechanisms to create a better world."

A focus was also placed on young people and Uzbekistan was framed as an ideal place for the first Judo Economic Forum as more than 80 per cent of its population is under the age of 30.

The Uzbek Government is said to be eager to develop sports for economic reasons as well as the lessons of togetherness and discipline that can be taught.

Themes of financial trends, technology, society and
Themes of financial trends, technology, society and "IT supporting a prosperous future" were on the agenda at the Judo Economic Forum ©IJF

"We give a lot of attention to the development of the sports industry to create the right infrastructures to help athletes and all the sport practitioners," said Deputy Prime Minister Jamshid Khodjaev.

"Over recent years the Uzbek economy has been fast growing and we were able to create new jobs and implement a new tax reform.

"In this ever-changing world and with this positive growing economy, sport is also developing fast.

"It is very important because sports unite all of us."

At the closing stages of the event, an MoU was signed between the Uzbek Ministry of Transport and Turkish integrated solutions company i-Cell Mobilsoft.

The partnership is set to see the Turkish firm help to develop tax and toll collection, paid parking, mobile payment platforms and goods traffic control systems for the Committee for Roads.

"Today we had sport, economic and political leaders sitting together to discuss how we can create more synergy, more cooperation and more positive feeling at all levels of society," said IJF director general Vlad Marinescu.

"Sport develops the leaders of the future and there is no doubt that these discussions are helping develop a better world here in Uzbekistan and across the globe."