Russia industrializes Central Asia and North Africa

Russia plans to open new technology parks in Central Asia and North Africa. Two of these are already operating in Uzbekistan, in the future — access to the African continent through the opening of a site in Egypt. At the stage of discussion are joint projects with Tajikistan, Cuba, China and other countries. The creation of technology parks will simplify access to new foreign technologies.

Joint production in Uzbekistan

In April, the second site was opened in this country — chemical-industrial park "Jizzakh", built by the Uzbek state holding "Uzkimyosanoat" and the Tatarstan technopolis "Khimgrad". The park has the status of a free economic zone and is focused on attracting 36 residents and investments in the amount of 60 million US dollars.

"Interfax" cites an excerpt from the press service of the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Tatarstan:

Technopark is designed to localize the production of Russian companies on the territory of the Republic of Uzbekistan and strengthen cooperation between Uzbek and Russian manufacturing companies.

A site in the city of "Jizzakh" has a modern engineering infrastructure and is equipped with ready-made production facilities.

Chirchik, built last spring, became the first technopark in Uzbekistan. Now it is implementing 20 investment projects worth 127 million US dollars.

Where will the new parks appear

Russia is considering the option of locating production in the economic zone of the Suez Canal (Egypt). The Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation believes that the presence of production facilities in this territory will simplify the entry of domestic products to the markets of African and Middle Eastern states. 29 enterprises from the Russian Federation expressed their readiness to develop the industrial zone in Egypt.

Earlier, it was also reported about the discussion of sites in Tajikistan and China, but the results are still unknown.

In April last year, an agreement appeared on the opening of the Ala-Too Eurasian Technopark; in Kyrgyzstan. It is planned to implement projects in the agricultural and energy industries, as well as to develop satellite technologies.

In Cuba, they are going to build an industrial park of the EAEU in the Mariel special development zone, located near Havana.

Production potential outside the country

Business Ambassador of "Business Russia" In Uzbekistan, Yury Shilov sees significant potential in opening production sites abroad. The location of production facilities outside of Russia opens up access to new markets, foreign technologies and allows you to hire workers from other countries.

Both sides benefit from cooperation: it is easier for Russian manufacturers to sell products, and the partner country masters the technologies and competencies provided. Finished products will also be shipped back to Russia.

To solve the problem of anti-Russian sanctions completely, of course, will not work, but cooperation with partners will certainly help to solve some problems. We can produce part of the products on the territory of Uzbekistan and import them to Russia in the future, — Shilov noted in an interview with Mashnews.

RF actively distributes technoparks around the globe, but bypasses its old partner — Kazakhstan. The US is increasingly pressing on the Kazakhstani authorities, and the country is very afraid of imposing sanctions. Over the past year, Russia has reduced investment in the economy of Kazakhstan by 20%, although many Russian organizations are still seeking to move under Kazakh jurisdiction.

At the same time, Kazakhstan is very dependent on Russia economically, and many companies in the country are focused on the Russian Federation, especially considering that the logistics routes for export also pass through Russia.