Page 53 - bneMag Dec22

bne December 2022 Special Report I 53
It appears that the results are already starting to show, with the export of residences having risen twelvefold, the number of foreign companies growing tenfold (from 12 to 132 in 2019) and the volume of IT services increasing sixfold. Officially employed IT workers have climbed from 4,584 in 2019 to 13,500 in 2022. The export of IT services has also increased by five times, with some speculating that the government's target of $1bn worth of IT exports by 2028 (up 50 times from 2021) could be within reach.
The future could also be bright
for Uzbekistan, as what it lacks
in geography it makes up with in demography. Uzbekistan, and Central Asia generally, is the area of the former Soviet Union that has seen its population increase since 1991, with demographic growth and a young population looking to stay stable
in the new future. This point was highlighted several times by speakers
at ICT Week, and the government is keen to capitalise on the fact. Each year, 30,000 graduate annually from IT-related courses at 58 universities dedicated to IT, with the number continuing to increase.
At the peak of Samarkand’s power under the Timurid dynasty, North America was still unknown to the Islamic world. Yet today Uzbekistan’s modern rulers see the United States as the goal for the country’s IT export market. The US accounts for the lion’s share of the global IT outsourcing market, expected to be worth as much as $682.3bn by 2027 – up from just
over $526bn last year, according to Mordor Intelligence. About 80% of Uzbekistan’s IT exports currently go to the US.
With Russia's invasion of Ukraine
and the Taliban's reoccupation of Afghanistan, Uzbekistan's geopolitical importance to the United States is
only set to grow. This, coupled with its position at the heart of Central Asia, at the centre of China's One Belt, One Road (OBOR) initiative and its growing young population, means that Uzbekistan's ascension from obscurity is not only possible but highly likely.
“The future could also be bright for Uzbekistan, as what it lacks in geography it makes up with in demography”
Uzbekistan showcases IT progress at ICT Week 2022 in Samarkand / bne IntelliNews
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