Javlon Vahobov: Fergana Valley – a market of 18 million people

Over the past 10 years, Uzbekistan's trade turnover with Central Asian countries rose from $2.5 billion to nearly $8.5 billion. The region's mutual trade turnover reached nearly $11 billion. Javlon Vahobov says these figures show opportunities to deepen economic cooperation, including by strengthening ties among the seven regions of the Fergana Valley.

The part of the Fergana Valley covering Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan is home to nearly 18 million people. Vahobov stresses that the area should not be viewed only as a consumer market, and that the main goal is to link goods produced and services provided in the regions into a single economic chain. Andijan stands out for machine building and heavy industry, Namangan for light industry and textiles, and Fergana for chemicals and petrochemicals.

Vahobov also points to Tajikistan's Sughd region, one of the country's most industrially developed areas, with strengths in metallurgy. He says its industrial capacity could be linked to production needs in Uzbekistan, including cooperation between Sughd enterprises and Andijan's machine-building sector.