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Saudi Arabia and Uzbekistan signed agreements worth USD 12 bn that will see the Kingdom invest in everything from energy, agriculture, chemistry and IT to pharma and infrastructure, Uzbekistan’s News Agency (UzA) reported on Monday.
And more: The two countries also reached an agreement to promote new projects and programs in transport infrastructure and utilities, geology, irrigation, household waste processing, higher education, and labor migration, according to UzA. It’s unclear what promote means or whether Uzbekistan has the institutional capacity to organize an effort of that size.
Where the funds are coming from: A joint fund to scale-up Uzbekistan’s economy is in the works, UzA reported. The Saudi Fund for Development (SFD) is also weighing in by backing projects in healthcare, water supply and education and others.
We’ve had rising appetite for Uzbekistan for a while now: Trade turnover and inbound Saudi FDI has been on the rise, mainly in green energy, Uzbekistan President Shavkat Mirziyoyev noted.
And energy is a huge part of the game: Investment Minister Khalid Al Falih and Mirziyoyev took part in the launch ceremony of projects aimed at connecting a modern 1.5 GW combined-cycle power plant to the grid in the Syrdarya region. The USD 1.1 bn project will help provide electricity for over 3 mn homes and hundreds of industrial enterprises. They also broke ground on a pilot green hydrogen production project in partnership with Acwa Power in the Tashkent region.
About the pilot green hydrogen project: The first in the ‘Stans, it will be in the Uzbek capital of Tashkent, as agreed back in January. The project’s first phase will see the plant produce up to 3k tons of green hydrogen to be converted into fertilizers.
BACKGROUND- Acwa is throwing in greenbacks and green energy in Uzbekistan. Acwa Power has poured some USD 7.5 bn into renewable energy projects in Uzbekistan. The projects are set to produce some 25 GW of renewable energy by 2030, cutting emissions by 3 mn tons. It signed three power purchase agreements totaling USD 2.5 bn in March with the National Electric Grid of Uzbekistan and the country’s Investment, Industry, and Trade Ministry for 1.4 GW worth of solar projects and three battery energy storage (BESS) units totalling a capacity of 1.5 GWh.
