On January 14 President Shavkat Mirziyoyev held meeting on priority tasks for the development of machine building.
As is the case in all industries, the transformation processes are actively taking place in the automotive industry, as well. Over the past four years, car production has increased to 1,8 times and the industry exports to 2,7 times. The new joint ventures with the participation of foreign companies were created and production of 2,6 thousand types of components was established.
The «UzAutoMotors» company, having received a credit rating of «stable» from the international agencies «FitchRatings» and «Standard& Poor’s», for the first time has placed Eurobonds worth $300 million on the global financial market.
However, the industry is still unable to fully meet the consumer demand.
In this regard, the Development Strategy for the next five years has set the goals to increase production in the automotive industry to 1.4 times through the further development of cooperation, increase its exports twofold, as well as increase the level of localization.
The meeting has addressed the work to be accomplished this year to achieve these goals.
The President stated that priority should be given to meeting the needs of the population. The instructions have been given to reduce the amount of prepayment for a car from the current 85% to 50%, by May 1 to completely eliminate the queues that have arisen when purchasing cars. Each customer in the queue will be notified with a specific date of car delivery.
As it was stated in the meeting, it is necessary to produce 160 thousand cars in the first half of the year and 275 thousand by the end of the year to meet the domestic demand.
In order to increase the supply on the market and expand consumer choices, the government has set a task to reduce customs duties on imported cars by half.
It is set to implement 23 projects to develop the production of 600 types of components this year. As a result, the localization level will grow from 48% to 56%. The production of two car models and modern engines will also be launched through investments of $336 million.
The meeting also covered the exports plans for industry.
Noting that the forecasts do not match the existing opportunities, the President gave recommendations for entering new markets. In particular, he has noted the potential to bring the volume of exports in 2022 to at least $500 million by expanding sales of components through major retail chains.
The President has emphasized the necessity to develop the machine-building industry by means of the industrial cluster method. This system along the chain «engineering – components – finished products – sales and service» will unite 8 machine-building enterprises, more than 300 producers of components, logistics, trade and service network at domestic and foreign markets, the Turin Polytechnic Institute and the Andijan Machine-Building Institute.
In this regard, the government has been instructed to develop a program for the National Machine-Building Cluster.
It is well-known that the world is rapidly developing the production of electric cars. In 2021, the share of such cars in the car market will double.
The President has underscored that in order not to lag behind in this sphere it is a high time to act now. In this regard, the task has been set to develop a strategy for the development of the electric car industry taking into account the technical requirements and standards as well as localization issues.
The meeting has also discussed the situation in the agricultural machine-building industry. It is envisioned to create a corresponding cluster in this direction in Chirchik. 100 billion Uzbek soums are allocated for this purpose from the budget. The relocation of equipment from «Tehnolog» and «Agregat» plants to Chirchik has begun. The meeting has emphasized the importance of fully launching the cluster in 2023.
The possibility of doubling the production of agricultural machinery, reducing its cost by 12 percent and increasing exports to $15 million this year was indicated.
The responsible officials have reported on the issues discussed at the meeting.