Established in 1993, the American-Uzbekistan Chamber of Commerce (AUCC) is a private, non-profit trade association representing interests of U.S. businesses ranging in size from small private enterprises to large, multinational corporations conducting business in Uzbekistan.

Our Mission: To advocate the views of the business community to ensure that private sector positions are considered during the development of key policies that impact American businesses and the future of U.S.-Uzbekistan relations.

17th Uzbekistan International Oil & Gas Exhibition and Conference
14 - 16 May 2013
Tashkent, Uzbekistan
Organiser: ITE Group Plc
http://www.oguzbekistan.com/2013/aucc.html

** All companies will receive a 10% registration discount when quoting 'The American-Uzbekistan Chamber of Commerce'

The 17th Uzbekistan International Oil & Gas Exhibition and Conference will take place on 14 - 16 May 2013 at UzExpocentre in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. The adjoining conference will be held on the 15 - 16 May 2013 at the InterContinental Hotel. Over 7,000 visitors and 100 exhibitors from more than 20 countries are expected to participate this year.

Officially supported by Uzbekneftegaz, OGU is the best-attended oil and gas trade event in Uzbekistan. The event is a central meeting place for the local and regional oil and gas industry to meet and do business.

The Government's drive for sustained growth in the domestic oil and gas sector, assisted by reforms to attract foreign investors, means that there are numerous commercial opportunities for suppliers seeking to enter in thriving market. For a detailed show report, or to register your interest, please contact:

If your company is interested in presenting at OGU 2013, please email your name, title, organisation, along with 5 bullet points detailing your presentation to evgeny.makushin@ite-events.com  

All other inquiries in regard to participation should be forwarded to:

Elena Popova 

The China Development Bank (CDB) will provide a loan of $ 110 million to the Rahnamo-Nur Uzbek-American joint venture to build the cement plant in Karakalpakstan (autonomous republic in north-western Uzbekistan), General Manager of Uzstroymateriali Akbar Mukhiddinov told reporters on Friday.

The Chinese CNTIC (China National Technical Import & Export Corporation) will be the general contractor for construction of the plant. The contract with the company will be signed within a month, Mukhitdinov said.

The Rahnamo-Nur Uzbek-American Joint Venture started construction of the cement plant in Karakalpakstan with design capacity of one million tons per year in 2009.

75 percent of the authorized fund of the venture is owned by American Platineum Partners, and 25 percent - by the Uzbek side.

Financing of the construction of the plant, totaling $ 128 million, was to be done through the equity of the joint venture and loans.

In 2012, the joint venture suspended construction of the plant due to funding problems. To date, the project has disbursed nearly $ 20 million.

Uzbekistan has six cement plants with a total capacity of 6.5 million tons.

The largest cement plants in Uzbekistan are of Kizilkumcement with production capacity of 3.08 million tons, Akhangarancement with capacity of 1.74 million tons and Kuvasaycement with capacity of 920 000 tons.

In 2012, cement production in Uzbekistan increased by 1.3 percent to 6.78 million tons, compared to 2011.

Suntech Power ( STP ), one of China's largest solar firms, plans to expand its operations to Uzbekistan. The firm is expected to invest around $10 million in a joint venture with Uzbekistan's state energy company, Uzbenergo, to construct a solar panel manufacturing facility in the country. Like most Chinese solar firms, Suntech has been hit by rising trade barriers, subsidy cutbacks in key markets and a chronic global oversupply of solar panels. We believe the expansion allows the firm a head-start in a largely under-tapped market and also provides the firm opportunities to diversify its revenue stream.

Solar Sector In Uzbekistan

Uzbekistan's electricity sector is still heavily reliant on fossil fuels such as natural gas and solar capacity in the country is presently negligible. However, interest in renewable energy has been picking up as the country looks to diversify its energy mix. The country's climatic conditions are also quite conducive to solar power with around 2,000 hours of sunshine received annually in the northern part of the country and over 3000 hours in the south. The country will also be extending tax breaks for foreign direct investment in the renewable power sector. State energy firm, Uzbenergo, intends to build a total of around 2 GW of solar power plants over the next few years with a portion of the financing for the projects coming from the Asian Development Bank. Other foreign investors such as Russia's Lukoil have also shown interest in solar sector in the country.

Does The Move Make Sense For Suntech?

While Chinese solar firms have been expanding internationally, most of their acquisitions have been aimed at circumventing tariffs in the U.S. and European markets, or acquiring technical capabilities. Suntech's move is quite unique since it involves building manufacturing capacity in an emerging solar market.

Building panel manufacturing capacity in the country should help the firm cut down on costs and make it more competitive in the market. Despite the firm's already high debt load (debt net of cash was around $1.6 billion) the firm should be able to raise funding for this project, given that lenders such as China Development Bank have been financing solar companies for strategic expansions overseas.

According to the source, the sides discussed the questions to direct Kuwait investments to agriculture and real estate of Uzbekistan. They also came to an agreement about further cooperation development between the countries.