TASHKENT
Uzbekistan’s copper, gold and silver producer Almalyk Mining and Metallurgical Combine (AMMC) signed a 712 million euro loan agreement with the Russian state development corporation VEB.RF to finance the construction of a new copper refinery in the Central Asian country.
The funds will cover payments for Russian equipment and services under the project, as well as part of the costs in Uzbekistan, the state-owned miner said.
AMMC plans to increase the volume of ore processing to 160 million tonnes per year, and by 2028 to increase the output of cathode copper to 400,000 tonnes per year. Also, by 2028, the factory will triple its annual gold production and double its silver production.
“This loan was provided on preferential terms without government guarantees and sureties. This project marks a new stage in the development of the plant. We will continue to strengthen cooperation with Russian banks and enterprises in the future,” Abdulla Khursanov, AMMC Chairman of the Board, said.
Over the past five years, the volume of copper production in Uzbekistan has increased by almost 1.5 times and in 2020 reached 148 thousand tons.
AMMC, the Central Asian nation’s second-largest gold and copper producer, led the list of the most profitable companies of the country with a net profit of $375.6 million in 2020.
The plant’s share in the country’s industry is seven percent, and its share in exports is 15 percent. The plant provides eight percent of the total revenue of the state budget.
Last week, Uzbekistan and Russia signed around 600 bilateral agreements totalling $9 billion, including investment projects worth $7.4 billion following the second economic forum of interregional cooperation between the two countries.
The documents included 141 investment projects worth $7.4 billion and 455 export contracts worth $1.6 billion, Uzbekistan’s Investment and Foreign Trade Ministry (MIFT) said.
MIFT and Russia’s Industry and Trade Ministry as well as the regional administrations of the two countries will establish a joint office that will be working on 75 new investment projects in promising industries.
The cooperation agreements cover areas as metallurgy, energy, chemical, electrical, production of leather and footwear, textile and pharmaceutical industries, water management, oil and gas industry, banking and financial sectors.
While addressing the economic forum via video-link Uzbekistan’s President Shavkat Mirziyoyev said that the two countries expect the trade turnover to exceed $6 billion by the end of the year which would make Russia Uzbekistan’s biggest trade partner.
Mirziyoyev said that the dynamic interaction of the regions in Uzbekistan with the Russian cities of Moscow and St. Petersburg, the Republic of Tatarstan, the Altai territory, the Astrakhan, Novosibirsk, Omsk, Samara, Chelyabinsk regions and many others.
Over the past year, Uzbekistan held exhibitions in the Russian cities of St. Petersburg, Samara and Kazan.
Russia is one of the main investors in the economy of Uzbekistan. More than 150 joint projects are underway, with an estimated total value of more than $14 billion. The number of enterprises created with the participation of Russian capital has increased 2.5 times over the past four years and exceeds 3,000.
In August, the two countries signed a “road map” for the development of logistics corridors. The road map outlines the priority measures to create the necessary infrastructure and organise the appropriate logistics service.
The document also defines the format of bilateral interaction to improve customs, sanitary and phytosanitary procedures, simplify the procedure for the movement of goods between the two countries, develop interaction between the state bodies of the two states in the field of digitalisation and also contains specific practical measures for the implementation of infrastructure projects, in particular the creation of agrological and wholesale distribution centres.