The South Korean government has provided Uzbekistan with a $4 million grant for a project to set up pilot greenhouses in Uzbekistan.

Under the agreement signed between the governments of both countries, the Korean side will supply special equipment, materials and vehicles. In general, Uzbekistan plans to build three pilot greenhouses with a total area 11,500 square meters. Thus, the Uzbek Research Institute of melons and potatoes is going to build a seedling greenhouse of 1,500 square meters, and two greenhouses of 5,000 sq. meters will be built at Tashkent State Agrarian University and Yuqori-Chirchiq district of Tashkent region.

The Korean partners will also assist in Uzbek specialists in improvement of the agricultural production efficiency. The project is scheduled to complete in 2013.

Equipment, materials and vehicles imported under the project were exempted from customs duties, and those purchased in the territory of Uzbekistan, including services, are exempt from value added tax.

Uzbekistan Airways and Uzbekistan Railways will provide cargo handling and storage of materials and equipment at airports and railway stations in Uzbekistan without charge for handling and storage. Experts say today Uzbekistan is attracting increasing attention of investors from the Asian region. In particular, geographical location, modern transport communications, high intellectual potential, favorable investment environment offered in Uzbekistan and consistent development of modern technologies increasingly raise the interest of South Korean businesses to cooperate with the republic.

This is not the first grant, which was provided in recent times. Thus, in the beginning of the year, the Korean government has allocated $2.5 million to improve the electricity metering system in Navoi region. In general, the total amount of the South Korean investments brought in Uzbek economy exceeded $5 billion, and the amount of already drawn ones $2 billion. There are more than 350 companies with Korean capital working in Uzbekistan. In the first quarter of 2012, bilateral trade between the two countries exceeded $595 million. (Source: “Uzbekistan Today” newspaper)