Navoi Region: Great Untapped Potential for Investment and Employment

Navoi region has excellent infrastructure, industry, and natural resources potential. Over the past seven years, the region has attracted $8 billion in investment, and 6.5 thousand projects have been implemented. This year, 577 projects worth $2.2 billion are being completed.

During the President’s last visit to the region, instructions were given on further developing the economy and searching for new opportunities. The proposals prepared based on these instructions were reviewed at the meeting.

For example, new industrial enterprises will be located on pasture lands near the chemical technology park in Karmana district. Thanks to the availability of infrastructure and raw materials, projects for producing kaolin, quartz, silicon dioxide, and textile dyes can be launched here as early as next year.

Chinese investors have expressed interest in mining and processing quartz and granite in Khatirchi district. Eleven mineral deposits in Kanimekh, Navbahor, and Uchquduq districts are also promising for development.

Recreation areas will be created on the 150-hectare territory around Lake Aydarkul, accommodating up to 10,000 tourists and creating 200 new jobs. In the villages of Sentob, Langar, and Angidon in Nurata and Khatirchi districts, 200 family guest houses will be organized, attracting up to 600,000 tourists per year and providing employment for 500 people.

Navoi region contains 43 percent of all pasture lands in the country, but only 5 percent of them are used. To solve this problem, forage, medicinal, and spice crops adapted to the local climate will be sown on ​​350 thousand hectares using drones. These lands will then be distributed among the population. Goat and sheep breeding will also be developed in Tomdi and Uchquduq districts.

In addition, Tomdi and Nurata have the conditions for specialization in the production of building materials, livestock farming, tourism, and Khatirchi district – in the textile industry and horticulture. In Khatirchi district, a modern laboratory is being created to certify organic and GMO-free products. Also, intensive gardens and vineyards will be created on 500 hectares in this district and 200 hectares in Navbakhor.

It is planned to stimulate the cultivation of products in demand on the market. For example, importing sunflower seeds from Italy and planting them on 10,000 hectares as a secondary crop is proposed. This will provide additional income for 5,000 residents, and the oil produced will be enough to cover the region’s annual needs.

In the first 11 months of this year, 111 thousand people were employed in Navoi region. In 2025, it is planned to employ 140 thousand people and lift 10 thousand families out of poverty. 

At the meeting, the Hokim of Navoi region presented plans to use the region’s reserves, attract investments worth $2 billion, and increase exports to $320 million in 2025.

The President noted that these figures do not correspond to the region’s potential and instructed to review the plans.

The need to implement new projects primarily in Kanimekh, Nurata, Khatirchi, and Tomdi districts was noted. The task was set to organize training for the unemployed in modern professions and provide them with highly paid work both in Uzbekistan and abroad. It was emphasized that Navoi region, with its broad economic opportunities and relatively small population, has the potential to become a region without unemployment.