Discusses the legal requirements/options for joint venture/licensing in this market. URL:Uzbekistan-joint-ventures
Last Published: 7/3/2019

Currently there are about 7,560 companies with foreign capital operating in Uzbekistan, of which  4,006 are joint ventures and 3,554 foreign owned.  The largest number of them are with Russian (1,427), Chinese (1,121), Turkish (874), and South Korean (637) capital.  Most (62.5%) foreign owned businesses and joint-ventures operate in Tashkent.  The number of newly registered companies with foreign capital increased in 2018 by 2,385 (31% year-on-year), which represents a 176.4% increase since 2017.  Most new foreign investors originated in Russia (428), Turkey (364), and China (351). 

There are a number of joint venture types available to investors, including limited liability societies, joint stock companies, partnerships, and subsidiaries.  Depending on the extent of foreign participation, a business can be defined as an “enterprise with foreign capital,” or EFC (less than 15 percent foreign-owned), or as an “enterprise with foreign investment,” or EFI (more than 15 percent foreign-owned.  EFCs and EFIs can be eligible for some tax incentives.  In this case, the minimum requirements for charter capital is 100 million soum ($12,000) for joint-stock companies (except financial institutions), and 400 million soum ($47,400) for other ventures. 
 

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