Uzbekistan Weekly: Uzbekistan advances WTO bid, seals U.S. critical minerals and tech deals

November 6, 2025 to November 12, 2025

This week's top 10 stories from Uzbekistan, selected from our daily intelligence briefs.

1. WTO Accession Seen Boosting Competition, Exports, and Investment

Political analyst Shuhrat Rasul, speaking on O‘zA’s “Dunyoga nazar plyus” podcast, argues that Uzbekistan’s prospective accession to the World Trade Organization would expand market access, deepen domestic competition and accelerate foreign investment. Rasul noted that Uzbekistan’s trading relationships have already grown from roughly 80–85 partners to more than 200, and WTO membership would open additional export channels, integrate the country with global standards and link domestic producers to global value chains.

He highlighted concrete benefits for consumers and businesses: stronger competition is expected to raise product quality and lower prices—boosting household purchasing power—while producers will face pressure to upgrade regulatory and standards systems to meet external demand. Rasul framed accession as a structural step that could both challenge inefficient firms and create scale opportunities for exporters, with broader implications for investment inflows and economic modernization.

Local Coverage: uza.uz

From daily brief: 2025-11-12

2. Critical Minerals Push Advances with U.S. Deals, Financing and Tech Partnerships During Washington Visit

During a high-level Washington visit, Uzbekistan signaled a major pivot toward U.S.-backed development of critical minerals and high-tech ties, announcing plans to expand extraction and processing of uranium, copper, tungsten, molybdenum and graphite and seeking financing from the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) and EXIM Bank. Sectoral agreements signed or proposed include rare earth exploration (Geology Ministry–Denali Exploration Group), rare metals (Development Fund–Re Element Technologies), pump-station modernization (Investments Ministry–Flowserve), water-saving agriculture (Agriculture Ministry–Valmont), AI cooperation (Digital Technologies Ministry–Palo Alto Networks), an $8.5 billion UzAirways–Boeing aircraft deal, and commodity trade pacts with Louis Dreyfus and Cargill; President Shavkat Mirziyoyev called the engagement “the start of a new stage” in strategic partnership.

The U.S. is preparing parallel strategic-minerals agreements with Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan to reduce reliance on China for rare earths as part of the Critical Minerals Dialogue launched in February 2024, potentially covering offtake, technical cooperation and standards alignment. If implemented, these ties could attract investment into exploration and downstream processing—leveraging Central Asia’s sizeable reserves (Kazakhstan supplies about 39% of global uranium; Uzbekistan hosts deposits of 14 rare elements)—but face constraints from existing Chinese and Russian dominance, limited westbound transport corridors and energy shortfalls. The upcoming C5+1 summit in Washington is expected to press for vertical integration, logistics upgrades (including Trans‑Caspian ambitions), and complementary energy and security cooperation.

Local Coverage: kun.uz, qalampir.uz, uza.uz, uzdaily.uz

From daily briefs: 2025-11-07, 2025-11-08

3. Personal Data Rules to Be Overhauled to Enable Global Pay Systems and Tech Partnerships

Uzbekistan plans to revise its personal data law as part of President Shavkat Mirziyoyev’s broader AI and digitalization agenda, signaling openness to U.S. tech partnerships with firms such as Google, Meta and Nvidia. The reforms aim to clarify a 2021 data-localization rule that requires processing Uzbek citizens’ data on domestic servers—a requirement that businesses and World Bank advisers say is ambiguously drafted and deters entry by global services like Apple Pay and Google Pay. Officials said changes could unlock global payment systems, digital academies and startup hubs; Mirziyoyev told media the government is “finalizing work with our American partners” to enable those services (gazeta.uz).

Stakeholders have flagged the law’s vague wording as the core problem: financier Shuhrat Qurbonov noted it allows interpretation “in any direction convenient for the interpreter,” and Hikmatilla Ubaydullayev of the Presidential Administration’s Fintech, Digitalization and AI Department said the ambiguity is harming business. A July stakeholder discussion and World Bank recommendations have urged easing localization to support service growth, making the legislative update a potential catalyst for increased foreign tech investment and expanded digital payment infrastructure in Uzbekistan.

Local Coverage: gazeta.uz

From daily brief: 2025-11-08

4. U.S.–Uzbek Deals Advance Auto Parts Imports, Possible UzAuto Privatization Role, and Wider Air Links with Boeing Order

During President Shavkat Mirziyoyev’s visit to Washington, Uzbekistan and the United States announced a broad package of commercial and strategic agreements intended to deepen bilateral trade, investment and security ties. Key elements include plans for up to $5 billion of U.S. auto‑parts imports over three years and potential inclusion of U.S. firms in the planned UzAuto Motors privatization (target listing by Q1 2026); purchases of 22 Boeing 787‑9 Dreamliners (about $8.5 billion) to expand long‑haul routes; up to $2 billion in agricultural machinery imports; and prioritized U.S. access to critical‑mineral projects backed by up to $400 million for supply‑chain development. Washington and Tashkent also agreed on cooperation in energy (including small modular reactors from NuScale), a $3 billion methanol project with Air Products, expanded EXIM financing and a three‑year industrial program outlined as roughly $34–35 billion in Uzbek purchases and investments over three years (projected to scale beyond $100 billion over a decade).

The package aims to reorient Uzbekistan’s supply chains, accelerate transport and tourism links, and attract U.S. technology and finance for renewables, mining, agriculture and IT — while deepening security cooperation and information sharing. Practical implications for international businesses include significant procurement and financing opportunities (EXIM involvement), potential entry points in UzAuto’s privatization, and expanded aviation connectivity that could reposition Tashkent as a regional hub. A new 30‑day visa‑free regime for some U.S. visitors (from January, full rollout in 2026 under discussion) and a proposed bilateral Coordinating Council on trade further signal a push toward operationalizing the agenda.

Local Coverage: gazeta.uz, anhor.uz, kun.uz, qalampir.uz, uzdaily.uz, uza.uz, spot.uz

From daily briefs: 2025-11-07, 2025-11-08, 2025-11-11

5. Strategic Planning Council Convenes First Session, Sets Implementation Roadmap

Uzbekistan’s Coordinating Council on Strategic Planning and Development held its inaugural session in Tashkent on 6 November, connecting regional officials by videoconference to begin implementing President Shavkat Mirziyoyev’s 30 October decree that establishes a nationwide strategic planning system. The meeting reviewed modalities for organizing the system across ministries, agencies, regional administrations and Tashkent City Hall, and assigned tasks to strengthen and upskill strategic planning units and analytical groups — including those under the Council of Ministers of Karakalpakstan.

Key priorities set at the session include creating a unified framework for drafting higher‑quality strategic documents, bolstering methodological and scientific support, refining governance arrangements, and building human capital. The Council agreed on coordinated, concrete steps to operationalize the system, signaling a centralized push to standardize policy design and monitoring across Uzbekistan’s central and regional bodies.

Local Coverage: uzdaily.uz

From daily brief: 2025-11-08

6. DFC Weighs Tashkent Office as Mirziyoyev, Ben Black Advance Joint Investment Platform

During President Shavkat Mirziyoyev’s Washington meetings with U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) CEO Ben Black, Uzbekistan and the DFC agreed to accelerate a joint investment platform and explore opening a DFC regional office in Tashkent to fast-track bankable public‑private partnerships (PPPs). Discussions targeted pipeline projects across energy (including renewables), critical minerals, finance, transport, agriculture and IT, plus small‑business support; a Tashkent presence would be the first active DFC deployment in Uzbekistan since OPIC/DFC’s last approved project in 2011 and is intended to mobilize larger U.S.-backed private capital for the country’s privatization and modernization agenda.

Mirziyoyev also met U.S. lawmakers (Rep. Bill Huizenga, Rep. Carol Miller, Rep. Sydney Kamlager‑Dove and Sen. Steve Daines), advancing dual tracks of parliamentary engagement and state‑to‑state cooperation tied to a policy matching Uzbek regions with specific U.S. states. Senators signaled congressional support — including prospective action to lift Jackson‑Vanik restrictions — to expand trade, investment and logistics links, and the sides agreed to reciprocal congressional and business delegations to Uzbekistan, underscoring growing U.S.–Central Asia economic engagement.

Local Coverage: kun.uz, gazeta.uz, uzdaily.uz, uza.uz, qalampir.uz, anhor.uz

From daily briefs: 2025-11-07, 2025-11-08

7. Tashkent Region Plans 200,000‑Resident Central Asia Smart City with Special Legal Regime and LRT Link

Uzbekistan has proposed a presidential decree to develop a 6,400‑hectare “Central Asia Smart City” in Ohangaron district as a regional free‑trade, industrial, logistics and financial hub, targeting up to $10 billion in FDI across a phased 2025–2035 build‑out. Led by Going Investment with partners including Bureau Veritas Consulting (France), Ainergy (Japan), ND İmar İnşaat (Turkey) and the Uzbekistan Economy Assembly, the project will begin with a 500‑hectare first phase hosting a finance centre, logistics facilities, utilities and initial investment assets; the remainder is to proceed after 50% completion of phase one. The plan includes a special common‑law–based legal regime with arbitration and SEZ‑style incentives, customs relief for imported inputs, a regional LRT corridor linking Tashkent–Nurafshon–CAS City–Almalyk–Ohangaron, a 75,000‑student international university, and airport integration.

Separately, authorities have frozen new land allocations and construction around the site for a new 1,300‑hectare greenfield international airport (Orta Chirchiq/Quyi Chirchiq) while a cadastral inventory and compensation plan are completed; the PPP airport project—Vision Invest (45%), Sojitz (30%), Incheon Airport Corporation (15%), Uzbekistan Airports (10%)—aims for 20 million annual passengers in phase one and has been pitched with over $27 billion in lifetime fiscal returns. Construction of the airport was launched by President Shavkat Mirziyoyev on October 15; both initiatives signal Uzbekistan’s push to attract international capital and reconfigure regional logistics and finance infrastructure, but raise near‑term land‑valuation and resettlement risks for affected communities.

Local Coverage: gazeta.uz, kun.uz, qalampir.uz

From daily briefs: 2025-11-06, 2025-11-07

8. Export Mix Broadens with Services and New Markets, while Commodity Reliance Persists

The Central Bank reports that export composition has broadened notably since 2018, with services—particularly transport, tourism and ICT—gaining ground and, from mid‑2022, contributing more to export growth than goods excluding gold. Between 2018 and 2024 goods exports rose on average 10% annually while services expanded by 21% annually; the export basket doubled from 2,245 products in 2017 to 4,359 in 2024 and the country’s trade complexity ranking improved from 78th (2017) to 66th (2023).

Geographic diversification is also underway: the combined share of Russia, China, Kazakhstan and Turkey fell from about 64% in 2017 to 44% in 2024, even as volumes to those markets grew more slowly, while shipments to France, the U.S., UAE, Pakistan and Azerbaijan rose on demand for uranium, petroleum products, cotton yarn, fertilizers, copper, appliances and food. Nevertheless, commodities and semi‑finished goods still accounted for roughly 66% of exports (2021–H1 2025), leaving earnings exposed to price volatility—the export price index averaged about +35% in 2024–2025. Trade turnover for Jan–Sep reached $59.8bn (+22.9%), driven by gold, services and higher flows with China, Russia, the UAE, Afghanistan and India.

Local Coverage: gazeta.uz

From daily brief: 2025-11-06

9. Tashkent Explores U.S. Small Modular Reactor Options following Nuclear Cooperation MoU

Uzbekistan’s Atomic Energy Agency signaled interest in U.S. small modular reactor (SMR) technologies from Holtec, GE Hitachi and NuScale after Tashkent and the U.S. State Department signed a memorandum of understanding on peaceful nuclear cooperation in New York on 26 September. Director Azim Akhmedkhadzhayev said the MoU opens channels for knowledge exchange, industry cooperation and training to enable technical assessments of U.S. SMR reference designs as the country plans to scale power capacity toward 2050; he stressed this is part of a multi‑vector strategy that already includes Russian RITM‑200N small units, possible VVER‑1000 large reactors and cooperation with China on SMRs and uranium processing.

The agency denied any binding purchase obligation despite a U.S. readout suggesting commitments. Construction has started on a Russian‑built small plant in Jizzakh with unit launches targeted between 2029–2035. The U.S. statement also tied potential U.S. reactor sales to broader commercial engagement — including a possible sale of UzAuto Motors during next year’s privatization — highlighting opportunities for U.S. financing, engineering services and non‑proliferation frameworks, while raising questions about procurement timelines, technology transfer and long‑term service arrangements.

Local Coverage: gazeta.uz, kun.uz

From daily briefs: 2025-11-11, 2025-11-12

10. Mirziyoyev Courts U.S. Ties with Gifts for Trump and Push to Host C5+1 Summit in Samarkand

Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev used a two‑day Washington visit in early November to press economic and geopolitical ties with the United States, combining symbolic outreach—a gold-colored Registan miniature and an Uzbek translation of Donald Trump’s The Art of the Deal—with substantive proposals at a revived C5+1 leaders’ summit. In Oval Office talks and a leaders’ meeting on 6 November, Mirziyoyev proposed rotating C5+1 secretariat functions, a ministers’ trade and investment council, a regional investment partnership fund, and a special critical‑minerals committee, while inviting the next summit to Samarkand in 2026. He outlined a three‑year, $34 billion joint investment program and discussed potential Eximbank and DFC financing, including plans for a DFC regional office in Tashkent.

The visit signals Washington’s shift from dialogue to implementation in Central Asia—prioritizing supply chains for critical minerals, Trans‑Caspian transport links, renewables (Uzbekistan’s target to reach 40% by 2030), and security cooperation including Afghanistan—and highlights Tashkent’s drive to leverage soft power and reform momentum to become a regional hub. U.S. officials framed the engagement as a policy reset toward a strategically located, resource‑rich region amid competition with China and Russia; analysts and former envoys (John Herbst, Matthew Klimow) see Uzbekistan as a pivotal partner for connectivity and stability, with concrete business and investment opportunities expected to follow.

Local Coverage: gazeta.uz, kun.uz, uza.uz, qalampir.uz, anhor.uz, uzdaily.uz

From daily briefs: 2025-11-06, 2025-11-07, 2025-11-08, 2025-11-11

About This Weekly Digest

The stories above represent the most significant developments from Uzbekistan this week, selected through our AI-powered analysis of hundreds of local news articles.

Stories are drawn from our daily intelligence briefs, which synthesize reporting from Uzbekistan's leading news sources to provide comprehensive situational awareness for international decision-makers.