TASHKENT

Uzbekistan plans to implement 104 investment projects worth $1.25 billion in the pharmaceutical industry in the coming five years and promises investors guarantees to purchase their products for several years.

Plans call for creating capacities for the production of import-substituting products in the amount of $376 million and the export of goods for $84 million as well as creating 9,000 jobs.

Over the past five years, around 71 new pharmaceutical enterprises have been created in the country. They produce more than 2,500 types of medicines, 241 types of medical devices and 78 types of medical equipment.

“These results are not enough. Today, domestic enterprises meet only 55 percent of the needs of the domestic market,” President Shakvat Mirziyoyev told the government. He added that the deep processing of medicinal plants in the country could bring exports to $15 million and provide jobs for more than 5,000 people.

The government promises investors to purchase their products if they open new production facilities in the country, Sardor Kariev, Director of the Agency for the Development of the Pharmaceutical Industry under the Health Ministry, told state TV.

“This is about offset contracts – long-term supply contracts with counter investment obligations,” Kariev said.

“Of course, for the implementation of this (mechanism), certain requirements will be set before the entrepreneur. In particular, the manufactured products should be cheaper than imported medicines, and should have corresponding quality.”

Uzbekistan is also planning to extend customs privileges for another five years in order to support local pharmaceutical manufacturers.

Uzbekistan, in the heart of the Central Asian region, is home to 750 types of herbal plants. But only 70 of them are actively used by manufacturers.

The government has been tasked to pay special attention to the allocation of land for the cultivation of medicinal plants, the development of seed production and processing, the training of agronomists, and the creation of a consumer market for such plants.