subject: Going For Gold In Uzbekistan: The New Frontier For Foreign Investors [print this page] Thousands of competitors will be going for gold at this summers London 2012 Olympics, but one little-known country in Central Asia has had people clamouring for gold for years.
Uzbekistan is one of the worlds fastest-growing economies and experts believe it is one country to watch when considering the most exciting emerging markets for foreign investors. The frontier market investor would do well to look towards Central Asia and Uzbekistan for unique opportunities in gold mining and indeed other sectors as well.
Uzbekistan has a relatively low but rapidly growing GDP of $37 billion (24 billion) and with a population of 28 million there is plenty of potential for investors looking to tap into the Central Asian market. Uzbekistan once accounted for one third of the Soviet Unions entire gold production and currently boasts the fourth-largest gold reserves in the world today.
The country mines 80 tonnes of gold every year, meaning it is the seventh biggest producer worldwide. With the value of gold rising significantly in recent years, and as other investment opportunities look risky in the current financial climate, investors around the world are putting funds into the precious metal Uzbekistan has in abundance - and there couldnt be a better time to take a closer look at the opportunities in the local market.
The gold of Uzbekistan is why many foreign investors have taken a shine to it, but there are plenty of other opportunities in many of the sectors in the country that shares its borders with Kazakhstan in the west and north, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan to the east, and Turkmenistan and Afghanistan to the south.
The nation ranks 10th in the world for its copper and 12th for its uranium deposits, where production makes it the seventh largest producer of Uranium in the world. Similarly, the national gas company Uzbekneftgas is the 11th largest natural gas producer in the world, pumping out an enormous 60 to 70 billion cubic meters every year.
Uzbekistan also has extensive untapped reserves of gas and oil that it is yet commercially explore with 194 deposits of hydrocarbons in Uzbekistan, of which 98 are condensate and natural gas deposits and 96 gas condensate deposits.
Huge global corporations such as the China National Corporation (CNPC), the Korea National Oil Corporation, Petronas, Lukoil and Gazprom have already reaped the rewards of the countrys burgeoning energy sector, while the frontier market investors appetite has already been whetted with the potential that this largely undiscovered country holds.
To add to all of this, Uzbekistan is also the worlds third largest exporter of cotton, illustrating the diversity of investment opportunities in Uzbekistan and across Central Asia.
The Uzbek government is trying to tempt foreign investors by taking a proactive approach to towards reforming and improving the local business and investment environment for foreign investors and businesses, and is passing a number of market-driven reforms in an attempt to make the nation more attractive to international investors and potential business partners.
This process takes time, and is already underway, and with such an abundance of natural resources and untapped reserves, it could well be the time to invest in the growth of Uzbekistan.
