Economic Reforms - The Times Of Central Asia

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Foreign Investment

Tashkent’s Rise Reshapes Central Asia’s Business Landscape

Tashkent is changing faster than it can adjust to its own growth. The city is already pressing against the limits of its existing airport; a vast new city designed for up to two million people is being built alongside it, and a separate financial jurisdiction drawing on English common law is being created. Uzbekistan is opening up further to foreign investment, and nearly two-thirds of the country’s foreign-invested enterprises are already concentrated in the capital. But being the leading business city in your own country and becoming a regional hub are not the same thing. Tashkent already has strong competitors in Central Asia. Given that competition, it is more useful to examine why companies are choosing Tashkent now and what the city still lacks than to declare it the region’s new business capital. As of July 1, 2026, Uzbekistan had 20,502 operating enterprises with foreign investment. Their number had increased about 1.4 times over five years. China accounted for the largest number, with 6,060 companies, followed by Russia with 3,454, Turkey with 2,293, and Kazakhstan with 1,307. As of June 1, 12,480 of the 19,921 enterprises with foreign investment then operating in Uzbekistan were located in Tashkent. That was almost 63%. Why Tashkent? Part of the answer is obvious: the institutions and services businesses rely on are concentrated there, from government and finance to professional services, technology firms, and skilled workers. That creates a network effect: companies come because partners, clients, and suppliers are already there. But the capital had roughly the same administrative advantages ten years ago without attracting business on anything like the current scale. What changed first was Uzbekistan’s economy itself. After 2016, the country began moving away from its previous closed economic model. One of the first major steps was currency liberalization in 2017. Changes followed in trade, taxation, privatization, and the treatment of foreign investors. The state still plays an enormous role in the economy, but it has become considerably easier for foreign private businesses to operate. Uzbekistan’s GDP grew by 7.7% in 2025. The IMF expects growth of about 6.8% in 2026, while pointing to a longstanding problem: the state’s large footprint in the economy, including major state-owned enterprises and banks, continues to constrain competition and private-sector development. The combination of rapid growth and a gradually more open economy has benefited Tashkent more than any other city in the country. Uzbekistan also has an advantage that cannot be created by government decree. With a population of about 38.5 million, it is Central Asia’s most populous country and has a large domestic consumer base. It is also the region’s only country that borders all four other Central Asian republics. For an international company, Tashkent can serve both as an office for the Uzbek market and as a gateway to neighboring countries. Now, Tashkent is entering territory long occupied by others. For decades, Almaty has concentrated banks, international representative offices, private companies, and professional talent. In 2018, the Astana International Financial Centre began operations, with a...

Titanium

UKTMP Eyes Expanded U.S. Presence as Kazakhstan’s Titanium Champion Seeks New Markets

ASTANA — On June 11, Sylvain Gehler, Chairman of the Board of the Ust-Kamenogorsk Titanium and Magnesium Plant (UKTMP), and Assem Mamutova, the company’s CEO, spoke with The Times of Central Asia during the Astana Mining and Metallurgy Congress (AMM). He outlined their plans to strengthen the company’s international footprint, with the United States emerging as a priority market. During the meeting, Gehler highlighted UKTMP’s ambition to further solidify its position as a leading aerospace-grade titanium supplier, building on six decades of operations and what Kazakh officials describe as roughly one-fifth of the global aerospace titanium market. “The combination of Kazakhstan’s resource base, UKTMP’s decades of experience, and the increasing importance of secure supply chains creates a strong platform for future growth. We are committed to remaining a trusted partner for aerospace customers around the world,” Gehler said. UKTMP, based in eastern Kazakhstan, is among the world’s largest vertically integrated titanium producers, controlling the entire production chain from raw materials to finished products. The company’s products are used in aviation, medicine, shipbuilding, petrochemicals, and nuclear industries. Among its international partners are Boeing, Airbus, Safran, General Electric, and other leading manufacturers. [caption id="attachment_50948" align="aligncenter" width="708"] UKTMP -Titanium sponge at the end of the distillation process[/caption] Gehler emphasized that “delivering consistent, high-quality titanium products reflects our commitment to rigorous standards and positions us to meet rising demand for resilient, transparent supply chains while expanding in key markets.” The company’s long-term development plans and initiatives aim at reinforcing Kazakhstan’s standing in the global titanium industry. According to Gehler, “UKTMP’s investment program through 2033 includes 25 projects worth more than $520 million, including construction of a new titanium sponge facility that would significantly expand production capacity.” Currently, UKTMP has 30 types of titanium alloys. Titanium and its alloys combine a high melting point, high electrical resistivity, exceptional strength-to-weight ratio, corrosion resistance in air and seawater, and non-magnetic behavior. It is also lightweight—its specific gravity is approximately 56% that of steel—biologically inert, and readily formed under pressure, making titanium a versatile structural material widely used in advanced industries. United States Demand for Titanium The American aerospace and defense sectors rely heavily on titanium, while disruptions to traditional supply chains following sanctions on Russia have heightened interest in alternative suppliers. Kazakhstan has emerged as one of the countries helping fill that gap. [caption id="attachment_50961" align="aligncenter" width="1447"] Source: USGS[/caption] Industry analysts note that the United States currently lacks domestic titanium sponge production and remains dependent on imports. In 2025 through July, Japan supplied 73% of U.S. titanium sponge imports, while Kazakhstan and Saudi Arabia each supplied 13%. This strategic reliance underpins the favorable treatment the U.S. currently gives to Kazakh titanium, since heavy supply restrictions would adversely impact the U.S. aerospace and defense industries. This has not always been the case. For UKTMP, deeper access to the U.S. market represents not only a commercial opportunity but the makings of a strategic partnership. Increasing sales to American customers would further anchor Kazakhstan within Western aerospace and other supply...

U.S.-Uzbekistan Partnership

Uzbekistan Agrees Tariff Cuts for U.S. Goods as Moody’s Raises Sovereign Rating

Uzbekistan and the United States announced a new package of trade commitments on June 25. Moody’s raised Uzbekistan’s sovereign rating by one notch the same day. The two decisions strengthen Tashkent’s case that economic reforms are producing practical gains. Under the “early harvest” announced in Tashkent, Uzbekistan will eliminate or reduce tariffs on a wide range of U.S. industrial and agricultural goods. Washington offered favorable consideration for Uzbek products in future tariff actions, where U.S. law allows, though that language does not guarantee automatic tariff cuts for Uzbek exports. The two governments will put the commitments in writing in the coming weeks. They also agreed to speed up negotiations on an Agreement on Reciprocal Trade and Investment. President Shavkat Mirziyoyev discussed the package with U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer during talks in Tashkent. The announcement gives a political lift to a relationship which is still small in terms of trade. U.S. goods trade with Uzbekistan reached over $1 billion in 2025. American exports rose 24.5% to $473.9 million, while imports from Uzbekistan climbed to $574.4 million, turning a $338.3 million U.S. surplus in 2024 into a $100.5 million deficit. The latest agreement builds on $32 billion in commercial deals announced in 2025. That figure includes an $8.5 billion Boeing agreement and planned activity in mining, energy, finance, and technology. Tashkent has also built new channels to move projects toward financing. A U.S.-Uzbekistan Business and Investment Council began work in April. A joint investment platform followed in June, with energy, infrastructure, critical minerals, and manufacturing among its target sectors. The Tashkent business forum drew 193 U.S. company representatives. Saida Mirziyoyeva, head of Uzbekistan’s presidential administration, set a clear standard at the council’s launch. “We are no longer at the stage where we speak about potential,” she said. “We are at the stage where we must deliver.” That goal extends to Uzbekistan’s long WTO accession process. The country applied to join in 1994, but negotiations stalled for years. Tashkent resumed active work in 2020 and completed bilateral market-access negotiations with the United States in December 2024. The U.S. agreement settled terms for trade in goods and services between the two countries. It did not complete Uzbekistan’s accession. Tashkent still needs an agreed multilateral package and approval from WTO members. Uzbek officials now aim to secure full membership by the end of 2026. The timetable has already moved beyond an earlier target linked to the WTO ministerial conference in March. Negotiations cover tariffs and market access, but also reach domestic rules on subsidies, state-owned companies, product standards, and intellectual property. Some industries may receive time to adjust. Chief WTO negotiator Azizbek Urunov said that transition periods of three to eight years had been discussed for some sectors. “Overall, tariffs will be reduced,” he said. “However, there are sectors that are sensitive for us.” WTO membership would place Uzbekistan’s trade policy under a common set of rules and give exporters access to the organization’s dispute system. It would also limit some forms of state...

Tashkent International Investment Forum

Data, Minerals, and the New Tashkent: Uzbekistan Pitches Its Next Growth Phase at Investment Forum

Uzbekistan used the opening of this year’s Tashkent International Investment Forum to make a broader pitch than investment alone: the country is presenting itself as a platform for data-driven governance, value-added mineral processing, and large-scale urban development. The fifth Tashkent International Investment Forum is being held in the Uzbek capital from June 16-18, bringing together government officials, international financial institutions, business leaders, and investors as Uzbekistan seeks to reinforce its position as one of Central Asia’s leading investment destinations. Held under the theme “Investment Resilience: New Frontiers, New Partnerships,” TIIF 2026 comes as Uzbekistan continues to promote reforms aimed at attracting capital, expanding industrial production, developing digital infrastructure, and moving higher up global value chains. Mirziyoyev Sets Out Investment Priorities Addressing the forum on June 17, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev presented Uzbekistan’s recent economic performance as evidence of growing investor confidence. He said the country had attracted more than $150 billion in foreign investment in recent years, including $123 billion over the past five years. According to the president, nearly 4,000 foreign guests from more than 100 countries are attending this year’s forum, reflecting its expanding international profile. The event brought together heads of state, prime ministers, representatives of international financial institutions, and business executives from around the world. Mirziyoyev said Uzbekistan remained committed to creating a favorable investment environment through reforms designed to protect investors’ rights and broaden economic opportunities. He said GDP grew by 7.7% in 2025, foreign investment reached $43 billion, international reserves exceeded $70 billion, and Uzbekistan rose 14 places in the Index of Economic Freedom, joining the group of economies classified as “moderately free.” He also emphasized the pace of economic growth. Four years ago, he said, Uzbekistan set a target of reaching a $100 billion economy by the end of 2026; now, he said, GDP is expected to exceed $180 billion this year. Mirziyoyev also announced plans to establish the Tashkent International Financial Center, a tax- and customs-free zone operating under a special legal regime based on English common law principles. He said the center would offer zero rates on profit tax, value-added tax, property tax, and customs duties, while guaranteeing free capital movement and payments in any currency. Delta Y: A Data Infrastructure Startup Looks to Uzbekistan One of the companies drawing attention at the forum was Delta Y, a Lisbon-based data infrastructure startup seeking to help governments and cities turn fragmented information into practical decision-making tools. Founded in 2025, Delta Y describes itself as a “data infrastructure layer” for governments, institutions, and advisory firms. Its goal is to use data engineering and artificial intelligence to turn disconnected datasets into usable analysis. Co-founder Afonso Carvas said the idea emerged from his experience working with data teams in technology companies and from a broader question: whether governments and cities could gain access to the same quality of data infrastructure used by leading global companies. That question eventually led the company to Uzbekistan. Why Uzbekistan? Carvas said Delta Y first began looking at Uzbekistan after a...

Tashkent International Investment Forum

Mirziyoyev Says Uzbekistan’s Doors Will “Always Remain Open” as Fifth Tashkent Investment Forum Begins

TASHKENT, June 17 — President Shavkat Mirziyoyev opened the Fifth Tashkent International Investment Forum (TIIF) on Wednesday with a message aimed squarely at the nearly 4,000 mostly foreign delegates packed into the hall: Uzbekistan's doors are open, and the country intends to keep them that way. Speaking under this year's theme, "Investment Resilience: New Frontiers, New Partnerships," Mirziyoyev framed the forum as more than a transactional venue for capital, but as a platform to initiate and deepen long-term mutually beneficial partnerships. He described what he called the "Tashkent investment spirit" — a phrase he used to capture the event's evolution into what he called a symbol of shared success between Uzbekistan and the partners willing to back it. The sentiment ran through his closing remarks, where he told the room that “the most important partner in turning ambitious plans into reality is an investor who arrives with good intentions. Therefore, the doors of New Uzbekistan will always remain open to foreign investors who come to our country with trust and ideas.” The guest list underscored the forum's growing diplomatic prowess. Mirziyoyev personally thanked Albanian President Bajram Begaj, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, Belarusian Prime Minister Aleksandr Turchin, Azerbaijani Prime Minister Ali Asadov, Kazakh Prime Minister Olzhas Bektenov, Kyrgyz Cabinet Chairman Adylbek Kasymaliev, and Tajik Prime Minister Kokhir Rasulzoda, alongside senior representatives from the EBRD, the New Development Bank, the World Bank, the IFC, the Asian Development Bank, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, and the European Investment Bank. Mirziyoyev cited a series of economic indicators to support the message. Uzbekistan has secured more than $150 billion in foreign investment since launching reforms, with $123 billion arriving in the last five years. In 2025, GDP expanded by 7.7%, foreign investment climbed to $43 billion, and reserves rose above $70 billion. According to Mirziyoyev, the economy is on track to exceed $180 billion this year, comfortably outpacing the $100 billion goal announced at the first forum four years ago — a sign, he said, of sustained momentum, underscored by a 14-position improvement in the Index of Economic Freedom. The pledges come as Uzbekistan seeks to deepen the economic opening launched under Mirziyoyev, with officials using the forum to market legal guarantees, capital-market reforms and new infrastructure projects to foreign investors. Mirziyoyev structured the rest of his address around six priorities. The first centers on legal guarantees for investors, anchored by the new Tashkent International Financial Center — a zero-tax-rate zone for corporate income, VAT, property, and customs duties, governed by English common law and backed by an independent commercial court staffed with foreign judges. The second targets capital markets, building on $16 billion in international bond placements and the recent National Investment Fund listing, which he called the London Stock Exchange's largest IPO in five years, with sovereign “sukuk issuance” planned next. The third priority is industrial value addition. Here, Mirziyoyev pointed to Uzbekistan's $3 trillion in estimated subsoil wealth and announced that foreign investment will be extensively channeled into the "Metals of...

GDP

Why Kazakhstan Is Moving Ahead in GDP Per Capita

The International Monetary Fund has projected Kazakhstan to reach roughly $23,170 in nominal GDP per capita by 2031. On the same current-dollar measure, it is projected to pass China around 2026 and Russia by 2031. The comparison is a milestone, but it requires perspective. It is neither a purchasing-power verdict nor a comprehensive measure of household welfare. It nevertheless marks Kazakhstan’s entry into a higher income band. The question is how a state that began independence amid post-Soviet economic disruption reached this stage. How Kazakhstan Reached This Point Kazakhstan’s present position rests on a three-decade progression of state capacity, resource development, and institutional learning. When the Soviet Union collapsed, the country did not inherit a working growth model. It inherited broken production chains, institutional rupture, and inflation. It therefore faced the task of building a market economy out of an administrative-command system. In current U.S. dollars, GDP per capita stood near $1,400 in 1991, and exceeded $14,000 by 2024; in constant-dollar terms, the gain was smaller but still substantial. Hydrocarbons supplied the base, but political institutions and leadership acumen determined how much of that base could survive volatility. The path since 1991 has not been smooth. The 1990s brought collapse and stabilization. The 2000s brought hydrocarbon acceleration, foreign direct investment, and a rise in nominal GDP per capita climbing from a little more than $1,000 in 2000 to more than $8,000 in 2008. The global financial crisis interrupted the rise without destroying the model. The early 2010s brought recovery. The 2014–2016 oil-price and exchange-rate shock then tested the foundations already built, as the current-dollar figure fell sharply while real output per person proved more stable. COVID imposed another interruption. The post-2020 rebound belongs to that sequence. The Tokayev agenda belongs to this third stage of institutional learning. It did not create the GDP per capita trajectory over three decades, but today the issue has shifted from accumulation to stewardship. The inherited growth model had to be made more competitive, more rules-based, more socially visible, and more sustainable. Since 2022, the government has treated de-monopolization, asset recovery, social investment, and private-sector development as connected elements of the same governing effort. The IMF’s latest assessment shows the pressure inside that effort: growth remains strong, supported by oil output and non-oil activity, while fiscal, inflationary, and quasi-state-sector pressures still require correction. The Reform Program and Its Results Decree No. 542, signed in May 2024, set out measures to liberalize the economy, limit expansion of the quasi-state sector, revise privatization criteria, strengthen competition, and improve conditions for entrepreneurship. Its operative terms are competition, privatization, reduced state participation, and lower business costs. The decree temporarily halts the creation of new quasi-state entities and provides for an audit of state and quasi-state assets, partly to identify candidates for privatization. It also incorporates reforms affecting procurement and business regulation. The decree seeks to bend Kazakhstan’s accumulated macroeconomic trajectory toward commercial governance. The challenge is not to remove state capacity but to prevent it from crowding out private...