TASHKENT (Reuters) -Uzbekistan has set up a tax-free zone for artificial intelligence and data centre projects in its western region of Karakalpakstan, the government said on Friday.
Foreign companies willing to invest $100 million or more will receive a full exemption from taxes and duties until 2040, it said in a statement. The government will build the required infrastructure, and supply electricity at a discounted rate.
Uzbekistan, the most populous country in Central Asia, is pitching itself to the outside world as a haven for investment via a program of economic reform, even as politics in the nation of 38 million people remain tightly controlled.
Karakalpakstan, an autonomous republic in Uzbekistan’s far west, is one of the country’s poorest regions. It has been badly affected by the drying up of the Aral Sea, which took up much of its territory until Soviet-era irrigation schemes diverted the rivers that fed it.
The government did not say when it would begin building the infrastructure for the tax-free zone, or name any companies intending to participate.
According to government plans, by 2030 Uzbekistan expects to attract over $1 billion in foreign investment in the development of AI and digital infrastructure.
(Reporting by Muhammadsharif Mamatkulov, Writing by Felix Light; Editing by Mark Trevelyan)
