Chinese manufacturer and builder Poly Technologies Inc. recently held a groundbreaking ceremony for a rubber plant that is contracted to be built in an Uzbek industrial zone.

Following six years of negotiation and planning, Poly will provide Uzbekistan with a turnkey production facility

Uzbekistan is a country in Central Asia with a large population, nevertheless, with an industrial base that has not yet caught up with world standards. Following independence, the country gradually built some industrial manufacturing facilities through cooperation with foreign firms, including an automobile factory jointly built with General Motors, a truck and bus manufacturing plant jointly built with Germany-based MAN AG and a joint-venture plant built with Japanese Isuzu. However, the tires required for the three facilities and its domestic maintenance market all rely on imports.

In order to replace imported tires with homegrown product and expand exports to peripheral countries, the Uzbekistan government decided to build tire manufacturing plants locally and, since 2008, started the process of selecting partners for construction and operation of the plants. After nearly six years of negotiation and bidding, Poly Technologies was selected as a cooperation partner by the Uzbek government. During the visit of the Uzbek president to China in August of 2014, Poly Technologies signed a nearly $184 million engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) agreement with Uzbekistan National Chemical and confirmed a turnkey construction project to produce 3 million semi-steel radial automotive tires, 200,000 bias agricultural tires and 100,000 linear meters of conveyor belt annually in the first phase of the project.

The Uzbekistan rubber plant project is regarded by Uzbek President and government as a national strategic development project and the construction of the facility is being treated as a high priority project under highly favorable terms. Completion of the production facility is expected to greatly improve Uzbekistan’s self-sufficiency in providing tires to its automotive factories and after-sale service markets while furthering the advancement of industrial cooperation between China and Uzbekistan, a level of cooperation which will be of great significance to developing Uzbekistan’s economy and drive local social development.

Sino-Uzbek cooperation becomes the focus of attentions part of China’s efforts to implement the One Belt, One Road initiative

The rubber production facility is also one of the key projects implemented as part of the cooperation agreement signed between China and Uzbekistan during the official visit of Chinese President Jinping Xi to the country. Uzbekistan is located at the heart of the coverage area of the One Belt, One Road initiative and has strategic importance from both geographical and political perspectives.

In October of 2014, Poly Technologies dispatched a delegation responsible for the project for a two-week visit to Uzbekistan at the invitation of the Uzbek government, during which both parties conducted a detailed discussion on the follow-up plan of the project and negotiated the terms of the agreement. On Dec. 4, 2014, Uzbek President Islam Karimov signed and issued a presidential decree regarding the establishment of a rubber plant in Angren Special Industrial Zone, marking the commencement of the construction of the project. During the visit of the delegation, Poly Technologies general manager Zhengao Zhang met with several political and business leaders, including Uzbekistan’s deputy prime minister and minister of foreign economic relations and trade and chairman of Uzbekistan National Chemical. He expressed his appreciation for the support and collaboration provided to the project by the Uzbek government and looks forward to further expanding the company’s cooperation with the country.

Aggressively expanding the firm’s engineering business beyond China’s borders by undertaking more infrastructure projects across the Asian and African continents

Poly Technologies expanded its presence into Uzbekistan more than 10 years ago. The successful signing of the project represents a major breakthrough for the company in the central Asian market. The implementation of the project is of great significance to Poly Technologies’ international development strategy as it will not only drive the economic development of the local market but also lay a sound foundation for the Chinese company to expand its engineering business beyond China’s borders by undertaking more infrastructure and civil engineering projects in several Asian and African counties.