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Uzbekistan Opens Up for Foreign Investment, Spurring Rivalry With Kazakhstan

  • Uzbekistan has opened up to foreign investment in recent years
  • Competition will make both countries work for improvement: IMF
Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

Photographer: Taylor Weidman/Bloomberg

Uzbekistan’s recent opening up for foreign investment will spur a “healthy rivalry” in Central Asia, potentially boosting the economy of neighboring Kazakhstan, the International Monetary Fund said.

“Uzbekistan will be a rival to Kazakhstan for investment in a positive way,” Mark Horton, assistant director of the IMF’s Middle East and Central Asia Department, said in an interview in the Kazakh capital Nur-Sultan on Tuesday. The competition “will make both countries work hard to improve transparency, their policy frameworks and business environment.”