HOW WOULD YOU ASSESS NAVOI REGION’S CURRENT WEIGHT WITHIN UZBEKISTAN’S NATIONAL ECONOMY?

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Navoi holds close to a fifth of the country’s mineral reserves, and that geological endowment has shaped the region into one of Uzbekistan’s principal industrial pillars. But the numbers that matter most now are the processing figures, not the extraction volumes. In 2025, gross regional product hit 167.9 trillion soums, up 7.7 percent. Industrial output reached 195.2 trillion soums, growing 8.3 percent. External trade turnover expanded by 46.4 percent; exports alone rose 25 percent.

 

Set against 2017, the shift is striking. Gross regional product has grown 9.1 times over. Industrial output, 14.9 times. More than 7,000 projects have gone live in eight years, absorbing $8 billion in investment and generating over 73,000 jobs. Industry’s share of gross regional product stood at 76 percent in 2025, and Navoi’s share of national industrial output climbed from 16.5 percent in 2024 to 17.7 percent last year.

 

Green energy has changed the picture further. In December 2024, the 500 MW Zarafshan wind power plant came on line after drawing over $600 million in foreign direct investment. A month earlier, construction started on a 300 MW solar plant with 75 MW of storage in Karmana district, and a second facility in Nurata district will add 150 MW of generation alongside 300 MWh of storage. Chemicals now make up 84.4 percent of the export structure, industrial goods 6.3 percent, mineral fuel products 2.7 percent, food products 2.3 percent. That composition tells you Navoi manufactures; it does not simply extract.

 

Private enterprise is gaining ground, too. The regional economy is no longer tethered exclusively to large state-affiliated producers. New private industrial, service, processing and energy ventures are widening the base, and the priority now is to deepen those cooperation chains through localisation.

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THE ENTIRE TERRITORY HOLDS FREE ECONOMIC ZONE STATUS. HOW DO YOU CONVERT THAT INTO A DURABLE COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE?

 

Region-wide free economic zone status is rare anywhere in the world, and we treat it as more than a tax concession. It is a mechanism for placing industry rationally, cutting investor decision-making costs and compressing the timeline from feasibility study to first output. Every investment has to connect to something tangible: raw materials, infrastructure, logistics corridors, a buyer. Our internal analysis identifies at least 30 principal raw material categories in Navoi, from which over 450 distinct product types can be manufactured. The portfolio is shifting. Energy-efficient, export-oriented, high-technology manufacturing accounts for a growing share. Wind and solar generation, energy storage, deep processing in chemicals and construction materials, automation lines with robotics elements are all part of this shift.

 

We have stopped issuing blanket invitations to investors. Instead, we provide specific, data-backed answers in advance: which products can be made from which feedstocks; which regional markets show strong demand; what the transport savings look like; how much energy and infrastructure is already in place. That is the difference between a zone on paper and a zone that fills up.

 

BEYOND GOLD, WHICH SECTORS DO YOU CONSIDER MOST PROMISING FOR INTERNATIONAL INVESTORS OVER THE NEXT FIVE YEARS?

 

Three areas stand out. First, non-metallic minerals and construction materials. Navoi sits on large reserves of granite, marble, quartz and basalt, enough to support production of finished decorative materials, dry construction mixes, mineral fillers and design products, well beyond raw blocks or semi-finished slabs. Second, chemicals and deep processing. Navoiyazot is among the country’s largest chemical enterprises, with major capacity in ammonia, urea, nitric acid, methanol, polyvinyl chloride and caustic soda. That installed base opens a downstream corridor for fertilisers, industrial reagents, polymer products and chemical components that do not yet exist at sufficient scale in the region.

 

Third, the industrial services cluster forming around NGMK, Navoiyuran and Navoiyazot. These companies generate substantial demand for spare parts, industrial chemicals, process equipment, automation components and specialised materials. For an investor, what has taken shape here is not a standalone facility but a complete industrial chain, where one contract leads to the next. The structural shifts confirm this is not a single-sector story. Private energy, chemicals, construction materials, services and processing industries have been broadening the base year by year.

 

HOW IS NAVOI INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT BEING DEVELOPED AS A LOGISTICS HUB TO ATTRACT PROCESSING AND EXPORT SECTORS BEYOND EXTRACTION?

 

Geography is Navoi’s structural advantage. Sitting at the center of the country, the region is a natural convergence point for air, rail and road transport. When the airport, railway, highway and free economic zone regime work as a single system, the investor’s location question largely answers itself. We treat logistics not as a transport function but as the architecture of product selection: which goods are heavy, which carry a high transport cost share, which can reach neighboring countries overland at competitive cost. Industrial priorities follow from that calculation.

 

The trade figures speak clearly. Navoi conducts business with 150 countries. In 2025, exports reached $1,397.8 million, up 25 percent on the previous year. Between 2023 and 2025, trade with China grew from $217.3 million to $752.9 million; with the United States from $2.5 million to $30.2 million; with the UAE from $0.3 million to $29.4 million; with Türkiye from $52 million to $122.3 million. The export basket itself has diversified into chemical products, industrial goods and processed outputs. Localisation reinforces the picture. In 2025, replacing 155 previously imported product categories saved $255 million in foreign exchange and created 950 jobs.

 

This year, 90 small businesses will join a partnership model with large enterprises, and the localisation programme is set to expand by 15 percent, with projected savings of $270 million. In a period when maritime route risks have intensified, a stable overland supply chain carries real weight. Navoi has the conditions to function as an interior industrial-logistics node for Eurasia.

 

WHAT IS YOUR MESSAGE TO INVESTORS INTERESTED IN UZBEKISTAN AND NAVOI?

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Uzbekistan pursues an open, pragmatic investment policy. Investor rights are protected by law. Unlawful interference in legitimate business activity is prohibited, and there is no discrimination on the basis of origin or nationality. Legal guarantees cover reinvestment of profits, free repatriation of dividends, protection of investment and appropriate compensation where warranted.

 

Navoi is the regional expression of that framework. NGMK, Navoiyazot and Navoiyuran anchor the industrial base. A multimodal logistics hub is operational. Infrastructure, energy sources and renewable projects are in place. Market access to neighboring countries is direct. We engage investors with product logic, not slogans. The capacity exists to present, with supporting data, which goods can be manufactured from non-metallic minerals, chemical feedstocks and renewable resources; where demand for those goods is strongest; and what transport and cost advantages apply.

 

At the Zarafshan wind farm, 500 MW of turbines are already turning. In Karmana, a solar plant is under construction. Navoiyazot’s ammonia line runs around the clock. Those are facts on the ground, and they are open to inspection.