Azernews.Az

By Kamila Aliyeva

Uzbekistan continues to take consistent steps aimed at developing its textile industry.

Another modern textile factory worth a total of $92 million will be built in Uzbekistan till late 2018, podrobno.uz reported.

The project was initiated by the joint venture Namangan Sharbati, the National Bank for Foreign Economic Affairs and Uzbekengilsanoat.

The factory will annually produce 10,000 tons of polyester fiber, 10,000 tons of polyester yarn, 20 million running meters of mixed fabrics, and 7,000 tons of blended linen.

The project is financed through Namangan Sharbati joint venture’s equity worth $30 million and the Uzbek Reconstruction and Development Fund’s loan worth $62 million.

The head of state provided a number of privileges and preferences to the Namangan Sharbati JV in the framework of the implemented project.

The factory will be exempt from paying corporate income tax, value added tax and mandatory contributions to the Republican Road Fund under the Uzbek Finance Ministry, till January 1, 2022.

It is also exempted from customs payments for imported equipment, components, raw materials, materials and chemicals used for the manufacturing products based on chemical raw materials that are not manufactured in the country.

One of the policy priorities of Uzbekistan, the world’s sixth-largest cotton producer, is further development of its textile industry. Uzbekistan takes consistent steps to increase the volume of cotton fiber processing.

Uzbekistan intends to implement 132 investment projects in the textile industry, half of which will be financed through foreign investments and loans, by the end of 2019. The total cost of projects will amount to nearly $2.2 billion.

In particular, it is planned to create 112 modern, high-tech industrial factories, expand, modernize and technologically upgrade 20 operating capacities. All this will increase the export potential of the industry up to $2.5 billion a year and create more than 25,000 jobs.

In the period 2010-2014, the textile industry of Uzbekistan received and spent foreign investments worth $785 million while 147 new textile enterprises with participation of investors from Germany, Switzerland, Japan, South Korea, the U.S., Turkey and other countries were commissioned. Export potential of these enterprises amounted to $670 millions.

Currently, Uzbekistan continues to attract foreign investments for construction of textile enterprises in Uzbekistan. In late August, another Polish company Polcotton agreed to invest about $60 million in the construction of the textile complex in Uzbekistan. The future factory is expected to have a capacity of 10,000 tons of finished products per year and to generate as many as 1,200 new jobs.

Previously, Uzbekistan and Russia agreed to further expand cooperation in textile industry which is a strategic centerpiece of the Uzbek economy. Particularly, they intend to create a "green corridor" for the supply of textile products.

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Kamila Aliyeva is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Kami_Aliyeva

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