On 5 April 2026, the head of Uzbekistan’s Presidential Administration met in Washington with the CEO of the US International Development Finance Corporation. The agenda: finalising the structure of a joint US-Uzbekistan investment platform, set to launch this year. The goal of the platform is straightforward — attract American private capital to Uzbekistan and share investment risks between the two governments.
It sounds like a bilateral diplomatic story. But zoom out, and a more interesting picture emerges. The US is not alone. Over the past few months, virtually every major Western power and international financial institution has been moving into Uzbekistan simultaneously — signing agreements, approving loans, sending delegations, and committing capital at a pace that would have been difficult to imagine a decade ago.
For exporters of machinery, industrial equipment and technology, this is not just geopolitics. It is a direct signal about where demand is heading.
The US: A Formal Investment Architecture
The joint investment platform was agreed during President Mirziyoyev’s working visit to Washington in February 2026 — a visit that also produced meetings with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer. The focus across all these conversations was the same: creating a structured, bilateral framework for trade and investment, not just a statement of intent.
A week before the DFC meeting, the US-Uzbekistan Business and Investment Council was officially launched in Washington. The message from Washington is clear: the engagement with Uzbekistan has moved from goodwill to institutional infrastructure.
The EU: A New Partnership Agreement and €12 Billion on the Table
In October 2025, Uzbekistan and the European Union signed the Enhanced Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (EPCA) in Brussels — the most ambitious bilateral framework the two sides have ever had. The previous agreement dated from 1996.
The EPCA covers trade, investment, digital technologies, energy, critical minerals, environmental protection and much more. On the sidelines of the signing, Mirziyoyev met with executives from European companies and financial institutions and agreed on new joint projects worth over €10 billion in sectors including energy, chemicals, logistics, textiles and pharmaceuticals.
The numbers behind the relationship are equally striking. Trade between Uzbekistan and the EU reached €4.8 billion in 2024 — almost double the figure from 2020. More than a thousand European companies now operate in the country. The EU is Uzbekistan’s third largest trading partner and its second largest export destination.
With the EPCA now in force in 2026, European companies operating in or exporting to Uzbekistan benefit from a more predictable and harmonised regulatory environment.
The UK: A New Ministerial Format and Export Finance
On 26 February 2026, the first-ever Central Asia–United Kingdom ministerial meeting took place in London. Foreign ministers from all five Central Asian countries attended. For Uzbekistan, the meeting ended with the signing of a memorandum of understanding to deploy UK Export Finance instruments in priority infrastructure projects — a concrete financial commitment that goes beyond diplomatic language.
The British private sector was equally present. Meetings in London included representatives from Rio Tinto, Rolls-Royce, International Hospitals Group and Intertek. Bilateral trade between the UK and Uzbekistan reached £2.2 billion in the twelve months to Q3 2025 — a 487% increase year on year. The relationship is moving fast.
The EBRD: $1 Billion a Year, and Still Accelerating
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development has invested almost $7 billion in Uzbekistan to date. In 2025 alone, investment exceeded $1 billion — making Uzbekistan the leading recipient of EBRD funding in the region for the sixth consecutive year.
Recent projects include the largest combined solar and battery storage facility in Central Asia (1 GW solar + over 1,300 MWh storage), modernisation of irrigation infrastructure across ten regions, and support for SMEs through local partner banks. In March 2026, EBRD leadership visited Tashkent to discuss priorities for the year ahead: private sector development, infrastructure expansion, railway digitalisation, and new financing models for special economic zones.
The World Bank and the ADB: Infrastructure and Growth
In March 2026, the World Bank approved a $200 million project to reconstruct a 91-kilometre section of the M41 highway in the Surkhandarya region, connecting Uzbekistan with Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Afghanistan. The project is part of a broader effort to position Uzbekistan as a regional transit hub — a role the country has been actively building toward for years.
The Asian Development Bank, meanwhile, published its April 2026 outlook projecting GDP growth of 6.7% for Uzbekistan in 2026, following an exceptional 7.7% in 2025. Services, construction and industry are all expanding. The ADB highlighted strong investment in housing and infrastructure as a key driver — the kind of expansion that generates sustained demand for imported equipment and materials.
What This Means for Exporters
All of this capital — American, European, British, multilateral — has to go somewhere. It goes into infrastructure projects, energy installations, industrial facilities, transport corridors and urban development. And those projects need equipment, machinery, materials and technology, much of which is imported.
Uzbekistan is not a future opportunity. It is an active market, being built right now, with substantial international backing and a government that has staked its economic strategy on attracting foreign investment and expertise.
The broader Central Asian picture reinforces this. Kazakhstan — the region’s largest economy and an equally dynamic market — operates within the Eurasian Economic Union, which means EAC certification is the entry point for most products. Both markets are moving, and both are increasingly accessible for companies that have the right documentation in place. Our guide to exporting to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan covers the two systems side by side.
For Uzbekistan specifically, the entry point is different. The country is not a member of the EAEU, which means EAC certification — valid in Russia, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan and Armenia — does not cover customs clearance in Uzbekistan. The country has its own national certification system: GOST UZ. A product that is fully certified for the Russian market still needs separate Uzbek certification before it can be imported. Understanding this distinction is the practical starting point for any company looking to act on the opportunity the market is currently offering.
For a full explanation of how GOST UZ certification works, what documents are required, and what the exceptions are for large-scale industrial projects, the complete guide to exporting to Uzbekistan is the right place to start.
Conclusion
When the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom, the EBRD, the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank are all moving into the same market at the same time, it is worth paying attention. Uzbekistan in 2026 is not a speculative bet — it is an actively funded, institutionally supported growth story.
For exporters with the right products and the right certifications, the question is not whether Uzbekistan is worth entering. It is whether to enter now or wait until the competition is already there.