TASHKENT, Uzbekistan, August 24. Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan may expand payment connectivity between financial systems, allowing tourists from both countries to use their usual payment methods while traveling, the Head of Business Development for EMEA and the Caucasus and a representative of HUMO told Trend on the sidelines of the Silk Road Finance & Technology Forum in Tashkent.
According to him, there is active rapprochement between the two countries at the intergovernmental level, including against the backdrop of growing tourist flows. “A large number of tourists from Uzbekistan are visiting Azerbaijan today, and we also expect guests from Azerbaijan,” Ergashev said.
The HUMO representative noted that the development of payment infrastructure could provide more convenient payment options for citizens of both countries. “They will be able to make payments through our network using their own apps, which we are ready to integrate between the payment systems of Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan,” he said.
Speaking about the development of Uzbekistan’s payment market, Ergashev noted that the country is actively transitioning to cashless payments, while cash payments are gradually taking a back seat. “Uzbekistan is precisely the testing ground in Central Asia where cash payments are fading into the background as much as possible. For the most part, everything here is done cashless,” he noted.
According to him, as of July 1, businesses in the country are required to have a single QR code for accepting payments, which also contributes to the development of cashless infrastructure.
He added that tokenized payment solutions are also being developed in Uzbekistan, allowing transactions to be made using various devices, including wearable gadgets. “We already have tokenized solutions where people pay not just with a card, but, for example, with a ring or some other gadget,” Ergashev said.
The representative of HUMO also reported on work being done on a tokenization project to enable the future launch of services such as Apple Pay and Google Pay, noting that the development of such solutions could further contribute to an increase in cashless payments.
