Uzbekistan is preparing to rewrite the rules of the game for its special economic zones, as the country’s leadership signals a faster and deeper reform of the legal framework that governs these strategic industrial and investment platforms.
Accelerated reform of special economic zones legislation
At the fourth plenary session of the Foreign Investors Council, the President of Uzbekistan, Shavkat Mirziyoyev, instructed the government to speed up preparation of a new edition of the law on special economic zones. The country already adopted a law on special economic zones in February 2020, but the decision to prepare a new version shows that Tashkent is ready to rethink and modernize how these zones are structured, governed and positioned within the wider economy.
The instruction followed a speech by Lisa Kestner, Director of the International Finance Corporation (IFC) for Kazakhstan, Turkey and Uzbekistan. She emphasized that Uzbekistan is at an important stage of economic transformation, and that special economic zones are one of the key elements of the national strategy to improve the business climate and attract foreign capital.
“With effective management, they can create a favourable environment for business — stimulate the inflow of investments, support the creation of new jobs and the development of professional competencies. Thanks to sectoral specialization, such zones can become growth points of the national economy,” Kestner said in a broadcast by the Uzbekistan 24 TV channel.
SEZs as platforms for industrial growth and logistics connectivity
Special economic zones in Uzbekistan are conceived as targeted territories with a special legal regime, created to attract both foreign and domestic investment, advanced technologies and modern management practices. In practice, they are intended to cluster manufacturing, engineering, logistics and value-added processing on sites that often reuse idle state assets and non-agricultural land, turning underutilized areas into industrial growth hubs.
For Uzbekistan, the geographic dimension is critical. According to Kestner, the country’s advantageous location and the development of international transport and logistics routes open additional opportunities to expand exports, attract capital investment and strengthen regional integration. In other words, well-positioned special economic zones can act not only as production bases, but also as gateways to Central Asian and broader Eurasian markets.
The upcoming revision of the SEZ law is therefore more than a technical legal exercise. It is a chance to align the design of Uzbek zones with global best practice: clearer governance structures, streamlined oversight, and a stronger focus on industry specialization such as machinery, building materials, textiles, home appliances and other manufacturing segments that can benefit from scale, shared infrastructure and proximity to logistics corridors.
Implications for international manufacturing and design businesses
For international companies in furniture production, interior and exterior solutions, building materials, construction systems, textiles and home appliances, the reform of Uzbekistan’s SEZ framework signals a potential opening of more predictable and investment-friendly industrial platforms. A modernized law can translate into clearer incentives, reduced administrative friction, more reliable access to infrastructure and easier coordination with zone directorates acting as one-stop partners for investors.
Uzbekistan’s expanding network of road and rail corridors, connecting it with Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Afghanistan, gives SEZ-based manufacturers the ability to serve not only the domestic market, but the wider Central Asian region from a single production base. For furniture and interior brands, this can mean localized manufacturing of high-demand product lines with shorter delivery times. For construction and building materials companies, SEZs can host integrated clusters with cement, metals, finishing materials and prefabrication facilities positioned near fast-growing urban centres.
Hospitality and tourism projects, as well as mixed-use urban developments, can also benefit indirectly if SEZ reforms support growth in high-quality building materials, design services and interior manufacturing. A better SEZ regime often catalyzes supporting industries — from engineering and design studios to logistics operators and service providers — creating a more mature ecosystem for complex construction and renovation projects.
Ultimately, the decision to accelerate a new edition of the special economic zones law is a signal to global industrial and design players that Uzbekistan intends to compete for long-term investment through clearer rules, enhanced connectivity and targeted support for manufacturing. For companies seeking a strategic foothold in Central Asia, monitoring and engaging with this reform process may open opportunities to co-create new clusters, secure early-mover advantages in promising zones, and embed their operations into the country’s evolving macroregional trade and logistics architecture.
