The Tashkent International Financial Centre will operate under a separate legal framework as officials seek closer links with British counterparts. The wider push also includes international listings and efforts to attract more private capital.
Uzbekistan plans to build direct links between its new international financial centre and the City of London as it creates a special legal regime based on English common-law principles to attract foreign investment.
“The United Kingdom might offer its own investment expertise and of course English common law,” Javlon Vakhabov, Director of the International Institute for Central Asia, told Euronews at the inaugural Central Asia–UK Think Tank Forum in Tashkent.
Uzbekistan, he said, wants the new Tashkent International Financial Centre to cooperate with British counterparts, “particularly with the City of London”.
Bringing English law to Tashkent
The Tashkent International Financial Centre was established by presidential decree in March.
The centre will operate under a separate legal framework within Uzbekistan, using English common law principles for commercial activity inside the centre, together with an independent international commercial court and arbitration mechanisms.
The system will not replace Uzbekistan’s wider civil-law framework. Companies operating through the centre would instead have access to legal rules and dispute-resolution mechanisms widely used in international business.
Uzbekistan took another step on 10 September, when President Shavkat Mirziyoyev approved organisational measures for launching the centre.
Vakhabov said British knowledge and expertise could strengthen cooperation with Uzbekistan and the wider Central Asian region.
In May, the National Investment Fund of Uzbekistan, managed by Franklin Templeton, became the first Uzbek fund to list internationally when it made its debut in London.
Further state-linked companies are now being prepared for potential international listings, as Uzbekistan seeks to attract private capital while introducing stronger financial reporting and corporate-governance standards.
From political dialogue to private capital
The first CA5+UK foreign ministers’ meeting was held in London in February, establishing a new platform for regional cooperation. Vakhabov described relations as entering a “new and more structured phase”.
Across the investment discussions, participants repeatedly focused on the conditions needed to turn political interest into investable projects.
Rebecca Nadin, Director of Global Risks and Resilience at ODI Global, identified potential cooperation in critical minerals, agriculture, education, technology, digitalisation and artificial intelligence.
