Ashraf Siddiqui
Doha
Mahmud L Mahmudov, economic counsellor at the Embassy of Uzbekistan in Qatar, has said that his country has set its goals to increase exportsof electrical engineering products to new markets in addition to traditional markets, including Middle East, South Asia, and the European markets, considering the GSP+ preferential trade regime granted to Uzbekistan.
Talking to Qatar Tribune, Mahmudov said Uzbekistan-2030 Strategy, adopted in September 2023, will ensure the fulfillment of all the goals outlined in the Development Strategy of New Uzbekistan.
This also sets the task of increasing copper processing in the electrical engineering industry to 300,000 tonnes per year and raising the localisation level of manufactured products to an average of 65 percent.
He stressed that over the past seven years, the President of Uzbekistan has adopted several legislative acts providing customs and tax benefits to enterprises in the electrical engineering industry, as well as subsidies to cover transportation and other expenses.
Talking about the electrical manufacturing industry of Uzbekistan, Mahmudov said there are about a thousand manufacturing enterprises operating, most of them small, producing over 2,000 types of products. Almost all enterprises in the industry are privately owned with the total number of people employed in the industry exceeding 35,000.
Among 76 large producing entities, 18 manufacture electrical wires and cables, 27 manufacture household appliances, and 32 enterprises manufacture power transformers and other electrical products, he said.
He pointed out that the Development Strategy of New Uzbekistan for 2022-2026 aims to increase industrial production by 1.4 times by 2026, including doubling the production of high value-added products in the electrical engineering industry and tripling exports.
Due to these measures, over the past seven years, the volume of attracted investments in the industry has amounted to $935 million, of which about $400 million are foreign direct investments.
"Additionally, more than 260 new investment projects worth over $800 million have been launched, including 50 cable production projects worth $120 million, 115 household appliance projects worth $380 million, 40 power equipment projects worth $60 million and 58 other electrical engineering projects worth $250 million,” Mahmudov added.
As a result, over 13,000 new jobs have been created.
The Uzbekistan’s economic counsellor said that from 2017 to 2023, the production volume of the electrical engineering industry increased 7.1 times to $1.98 billion, including a 5.5-fold increase in wires, cables, and copper products to $792 million; an 8.2-fold increase in household appliances to $633 million; and a 9.3-fold increase in power and technical equipment to $567 million.
According to him, the growth in the production of electrical engineering products has contributed to an increase in export volumes, which have grown 5.5 times to $1,047 million over the specified period, including a 4-fold increase in wires, cables and copper products to $576 million; a more than 10-fold increase in household appliances to $214 million; and a 12-fold increase in power equipment and other products to $257 million.
He said, "It should be noted that the significant growth (more than 10 times) in the export of household appliances occurred due to the creation of new production facilities in Uzbekistan by Artel Electronics. In particular, the export volume of refrigerators increased 15 times to $58 million, televisions six times to $52 million, electric stoves 4.5 times to $40 million, washing machines five times to $20 million, air conditioners four times to $15 million, etc.”