The World Bank has praised Uzbekistan as "one of the world's top reformers" in recent years, and the country continues to outperform many of its peers1.
An economy that speaks to everyone: Uzbekistan's rise as Central Asia's bridge
Thanks to a bold liberalising drive over the past decade, the country now has one of the most diversified economies in Central Asia. Since 2020, its GDP has regularly grown by more than 6% a year. According to Invest Uzbekistan, the country’s inward investment agency, the economy expanded by 7.7% in 2025, surpassing the previous high of 7.4% in 20212. That trend is being driven by activity across a wide range of sectors. The services industry expanded by close to 15% last year, while construction output rose by more than 14%, and industrial production increased by almost 7%. Exports performed even more strongly, growing in value by 24% year-on-year to $33.8 billion. The government is aiming to ensure exports continue to grow, helped by initiatives such as the Export Accelerator program, under which 100 local businesses were given practical advice on how to secure contracts with foreign partners3. Officials are aiming for exports to grow by another 16% this year.
Explosive GDP growth
For companies to continue to invest internationally, they need locations like Ireland that are proven, trusted and strong partners
— Michael Lohan, CEO at IDA Ireland
Export surge
$43B
Increase in foreign investment
$81B
Connecting the world
$2.7B
UK investments
Total trade last year reached over $81 billion. China was the most important partner with $17.2 billion of bilateral flows. The list of the top ten trading partners ranges from regional countries such as Russia, Kazakhstan and Afghanistan to more distant ones such as South Korea, Germany, and the United Arab Emirates4. As that list suggests, Uzbekistan’s economic performance has been helped by its careful geopolitical statecraft. It enjoys positive relations with Washington, Brussels, Moscow, and Beijing alike. The benefits of this can also be seen in the scale and diversity of foreign direct investment coming into the country. In 2025, Uzbekistan attracted more than $43 billion in foreign investment, up from $35 billion the year before, with funds coming in from Europe, Asia, the Gulf, and beyond. Invest Uzbekistan estimates that more than 17,500 businesses backed by foreign capital now operate in the country5, with investor interest concentrated in areas such as energy, industry, infrastructure, and logistics. Over the past five years, the number of such enterprises has nearly doubled. Among partner countries, China leads the way with 4,731 businesses, followed by Russia (3,177), Türkiye (2,090), Kazakhstan (1,185), and South Korea (683). Among the most notable projects are the BYD electric vehicle (EV) plant in Jizzakh, a joint venture between the Chinese marque and the local UzAuto. It is the first electric vehicle production facility in Central Asia. The first vehicle rolled off the assembly line in June 2024 and the plant’s initial capacity of 50,000 EVs a year is due to increase to 500,000 in the future6. The EV plant also points to Uzbekistan’s embrace of future-facing technologies – as befits a country where more than half the 38 million-strong population is under 30 years old. That is also evident in the power sector, where the government is aiming to increase the share of renewables to 54% of the national energy mix by 2030. In this it is being helped by deals to construct solar and wind energy plants with the likes of Saudi Arabia’s ACWA Power, Abu Dhabi-based Masdar and France’s TotalEnergies. In total, Saudi Arabia invested $4.9 billion in Uzbekistan between 2023 and 2025, primarily in renewable energy projects. Indeed, the country’s energy sector attracted the largest share of foreign investment between 2023 and 2025, with $17.2 billion (out of a total $100bn in foreign direct investment in the period).
A bridge between East and West
Other notable inward investment projects include Coca-Cola pouring $64 million into bottling plants in Namangan and Samarkand, Austria’s Lasselsberger committing $40 million to porcelain tile production and Chinese brand Hisense pledging $12.5 million for an air conditioner production facility in the Tashkent region. UK companies are also heavily involved, with IT, finance and agricultural all strong strands in the bilateral relationship. In March 2025, investment agreements worth some $2.7 billion were reached during Uzbekistan Investor Day in London. The two countries also work together through multilateral frameworks such as the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the World Bank. It is not simply about financial and investment flows though. Cultural collaboration is also an important element to Uzbekistan’s engagement with the world. London has hosted performances by the Uzbekistan Symphony Orchestra, and the UK capital has also held a festival featuring artists, craftspeople and chefs from Uzbekistan. There are also strong educational links between the countries, including an Uzbek Studies program now offered at Oxford University. A key element in attracting foreign capital has been the domestic economic reforms introduced by President Shavkat Mirziyoyev after he took power in 2016. In the years since then, his government has streamlined business registration processes, liberalised the foreign exchange market, cut taxes, simplified the visa regime and created a network of free economic zones around the country. State-owned enterprises are being privatised, state monopolies abolished and a path is being cleared for new industries such as digital and IT services to emerge – more than 110,000km of fibre-optic lines were laid in 2024 and 2025.
From bottling plants to symphony orchestras
The reform drive is continuing. In November, rules were introduced to further simplify business operations and reduce bureaucratic procedures11. As of January this year, Uzbekistan has a unified digital platform for company registration, allowing business owners to do everything from issue electronic digital signatures, open bank accounts, submit applications for licences and permits, secure VAT payer certificates and more besides12. Payments for all these services can be processed via a single QR code, and the aim is for entrepreneurs to be able to start a business in as little as 15 minutes. Such initiatives help to cement Uzbekistan’s position as a gateway to the central Asian economies and to South and East Asia via the developing Trans-Caspian International Transport Route. Before the reforms of the past decade, the Uzbekistan was an economy dominated by agriculture and heavy industry. These days it is far different. Industry remains important – it is the world's fourth-largest gold producer and seventh-largest uranium producer – but the services sector now provides the majority of jobs and contributes almost half of total GDP. Uzbekistan’s location at the crossroads of Eurasian transport corridors means it has been able to tap into everything from Gulf capital, Chinese business prowess and European technology. Its willingness to maintain its reform momentum should enable that to continue into the future.
A 15-minute economy
+7.7%
in 2025
$33.8B
total trade
The Reuters news staff had no role in the production of this content. It was created by Reuters Plus, the brand marketing studio of Reuters.
Produced by Reuters Plus for
agreed at Uzbekistan Investment Day
Disclaimer: The Reuters news staff had no role in the production of this content. It was created by Reuters Plus, the brand marketing studio of Reuters. To work with Reuters Plus, contact us here.
1. https://www.worldbank.org/ext/en/country/Uzbekistan 2. https://invest.gov.uz/en/post/349 3. https://uza.uz/en/posts/exports-as-a-driver-of-uzbekistans-sustainable-development_813406 4. https://uza.uz/en/posts/top-10-countries-in-uzbekistans-foreign-trade-turnover_812211 5. https://invest.gov.uz/en/post/326 6. https://interfax.com/newsroom/top-stories/103805/ 7. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/ukef-enters-uzbekistan-markets-with-126-million-deal 8. https://kun.uz/en/news/2025/05/31/uzbekistan-finalizes-wto-accession-talks-with-the-uk 9. https://www.sc.com/en/news/corporate-investment-banking/uzbekistan-nbu-standard-chartered-small-business-loan/ 10. https://www.sc.com/uk/2025/10/07/standard-chartered-arranges-eur-132-5-million-financing-for-major-steel-production-in-uzbekistan/ 11. https://invest.gov.uz/en/post/327 12. https://invest.gov.uz/en/post/327
Sources:
17,500+
International business footprint
foreign-capital firms
Total trade in goods and services between the UK and Uzbekistan was £2.2 billion ($2.9 billion) in the 12 months to the end of September 2025, according to the most recent data available from the UK Department of Business and Trade. That represented a remarkable 487% increase on the same period a year earlier. Trade flows grew in both directions, but the sharpest increase was in Uzbek goods exports to the UK. Uzbek companies have also been tapping the potential of the London Stock Exchange to improve their access to global capital. In 2025, some $4.4 billion worth of securities were placed through the bourse by Uzbek companies such as National Bank of Uzbekistan (NBU), UzAuto Motors and Navoi Mining and Metallurgical Company (NMMC). Official UK government support has also been forthcoming. UK Export Finance, the government’s export finance agency, took its first step into Uzbekistan in October 2024 when it provided guarantees to support Almalyk Mining and Metallurgical Complex’s purchase of machinery from a Scottish supplier7. UKEF chief executive Tim Reid had visited Uzbekistan the year before to discuss market opportunities and in 2024 the agency also appointed a dedicated representative to Tashkent. UKEF has said it will provide up to £4 billion in financing to support contracts in Uzbekistan. The UK has also supported Uzbekistan’s bid to join the World Trade Organisation, with the two sides completing market access negotiations in 20258. Private sector actors have also been stepping in with finance. In 2024, UK-headquartered bank Standard Chartered provided €114 million in financing with the World Bank’s Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) for Uzbekistan’s largest bank NBU9. The following year it arranged a €132.5 million loan for steel producer Uzbetkombinat10.
UK-Uzbekistan connections
487%
Uzbek-UK trade
between 2024 and 2025
$4B
Financing from UKEF
to support contracts in Uzbekistan
Discover Uzbekistan's opportunities
Find Out More
Uzbekistan may be one of only two doubly landlocked countries in the world, but that isn’t slowing it down. The World Bank has praised it as “one of the world’s top reformers” in recent years, outperforming many of its peers1.
The reform drive is continuing. In November, rules were introduced to further simplify business operations and reduce bureaucratic procedures7. As of January this year, Uzbekistan has a unified digital platform for company registration, allowing business owners to do everything from issue electronic digital signatures, open bank accounts, submit applications for licences and permits, secure VAT payer certificates and more besides8. Payments for all these services can be processed via a single QR code, and the aim is for entrepreneurs to be able to start a business in as little as 15 minutes. Such initiatives help to cement Uzbekistan’s position as a gateway to the central Asian economies and to South and East Asia via the developing Trans-Caspian International Transport Route. Before the reforms of the past decade, the Uzbekistan was an economy dominated by agriculture and heavy industry. These days it is far different. Industry remains important – it is the world's fourth-largest gold producer and seventh-largest uranium producer – but the services sector now provides the majority of jobs and contributes almost half of total GDP. Uzbekistan’s location at the crossroads of Eurasian transport corridors means it has been able to tap into everything from Gulf capital, Chinese business prowess and European technology. Its willingness to maintain its reform momentum should enable that to continue into the future.
1. https://www.worldbank.org/ext/en/country/Uzbekistan 2. https://invest.gov.uz/en/post/349 3. https://uza.uz/en/posts/exports-as-a-driver-of-uzbekistans-sustainable-development_813406 4. https://uza.uz/en/posts/top-10-countries-in-uzbekistans-foreign-trade-turnover_812211 5. https://invest.gov.uz/en/post/326 6. https://interfax.com/newsroom/top-stories/103805/ 7. https://invest.gov.uz/en/post/327 8. https://invest.gov.uz/en/post/327
54%
Energy Transition & Capital Flows
renewables share by 2030 (target).
foreign‑capital firms
