TASHKENT, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev said Tuesday that the Central Asian country will take a series of measures to improve its credit rating in order to attract foreign investment.

According to a presidential decree published on Tuesday, Mirziyoyev instructed the government to create a national monitoring system to evaluate reforms in the country for their compliance with international criteria and standards.

Uzbekistan was assigned a BB- rating by Fitch and S&P in December, and a B1 by Moody's earlier this month before it placed the first-ever 1 billion U.S. dollars of government bonds on the London Stock Exchange on Feb. 13.

Uzbek officials have said that the country's two banks and state-owned Uzbekneftegaz company also planned to enter international debt markets.

Since he came to power following the presidential elections in 2016, Mirziyoyev has been reforming the country's centralized economy to attract foreign investment.