China’s Economic Presence in Uzbekistan: Realities and Potentials

UZIN Paper nº. 5 (2014)

Despite the fact that the Republic of Uzbekistan was the first country in Central Asia to establish diplomatic relations with the People’s Republic of China (PRC) on January 2, 1992, it was not until the middle of the first decade of the twenty-first century that China took active steps to gain a foothold in the Uzbek economy. Even in 2001, when Uzbekistan became one of the founding members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), there was no real evidence of a rapid or significant growth of Chinese economic or business presence in the country.