Around 1,800 enterprises in Uzbekistan backed by Chinese investment

TASHKENT -- The number of companies back by Chinese investment in Uzbekistan neared 1,800 by the end of 2020, second only to Russia in the Central Asian country, the Uzbek State Statistic Committee said on Jan 8.

The 1,799 China-backed companies in Uzbekistan are involved in industry and trade, construction, oil and gas exploration, transport, infrastructure building, telecommunications, textiles, chemicals, and logistics and agriculture, the committee said.

The latest statistics show that foreign companies operating in Uzbekistan are mostly from Russia, China, Turkey, Kazakhstan and South Korea, while foreign investments are concentrated in industries, foreign trade, construction and agriculture.

According to the committee, the number of operating enterprises with foreign capital increased by 1,399 compared to the same period of 2019.

Uzbekistan has attracted 6.6 billion U.S. dollars worth foreign direct investment last year and hopes to increase it to more than 7.6 billion dollars this year.

The statistics committee said earlier that China topped the list of Uzbekistan's largest foreign trade partners, followed by Russia, Kazakhstan and South Korea in 2020.