Page 20 - bne_newspaper_February_22_2019

Eurasia
February 22, 2019 www.intellinews.com I Page 20
Floods of foreign companies coming to Uzbekistan to implement projects
bne IntelliNews
The opening of Uzbekistan has caught the head- lines as the country moves out of its hibernation and attempts to join the global market. Most
of the attention has been on the current ruling regime’s reform drive, culminating in the coun- try’s smash hit sovereign bond debut this month. That interest has now turned into a flood of trips by leading companies to explore the opportunities on offer in Central Asia’s most populous country and, as the only one of the five ’Stans to share a border with all the others, the region’s natural production base. Executives are arriving in Tash- kent to see how serious the Central Asian nation’s efforts to open the country really are.
The government doesn't really need to issue a bond as debt is low and its reserves are large. The issue was more of a calling card for international investors and a benchmarking exercise to allow the leading corporates to price their up coming bonds. Investors flocked en mass to buy up Uzbekistan’ five-year and 10 year notes this month and foreign companies appear to be as hungry to implement projects in the ex-Soviet state of 32mn people.
Welters of reports on exploratory meetings have been coming out of Tashkent. Thanks to its large population — the third largest in the Common- wealth of Independent States (CIS) and one of the fastest growing — Uzbekistan has a relatively diver- sified economy. In addition to the traditional cotton farming (cotton is part of the national emblem),
the deserts in the middle of the country are replete
The opening up of the Uzbek economy has foreign investors excited and beating a track to Tashkent.
with minerals – especially gold. Its agricultural potential is large. The population make the basis for an attractive consumer business and one of the few things the former president Islam Karimov did organise is a well developed automotive industry, based in Andijan, that exports low cost cars to the other CIS markets, Russia in particular.
Reports from this month alone included an agreement on geological exploration and
pilot production at prospective areas for gold and tungsten mining signed between the Geological Survey of Turkey (MTA) and the Uzbek government. The project areas include Sarytau, Khurob and Aydym-Djetimuu fields in Uzbekistan’s Navoi Region and Jizzakh Region.
Uzbekistan’s state-run nuclear energy coordina- tor UzAtom’s press service said last week that a number of companies from Turkey are exploring the possibility of constructing solar and wind pow- er plants along with combined-cycle power plants in Uzbekistan, as the entire Former Soviet Union (FSU) increasingly embraces renewable energy.
The Uzbek government is hoping to generate ap- proximately 20% of the country's electricity from renewable energy sources by 2032 and its geogra- phy is ideal for solar and wind power. Uzbekistan hopes to eventually increase its total renewable electricity generation to 9,343mn kWh and the Uzbek state-run energy firm Uzbekenergo plans to invest a total $4.4bn in 14 projects this year.