DUSHANBE (Asia-Plus) — A Tajik private company will start construction of cement in southern Uzbekistan in the near future, the Tajik Minister of Economic Development and Trade, Nematulo Hikmatullozoda, told reporters in Dushanbe on August 3.

He furthermore assured that the trade turnover between Tajikistan and Uzbekistan in the near future would reach $1&nbsp,bln a year, adding that this became possible after relations between the two countries radically changed for the better in recent times. He noted that the total volume of trade between Tajikistan and Uzbekistan for six months of this year amounted to $128.3 mln, which is $69 mln more compared to the same period last year. In the first half of the year in 2018, Tajikistan exported $75 mln to Uzbekistan, and imported goods worth $53.3 mln.

According to Ozqurilishmateriallari JSC, cement holds a significant share (76%) in the total volume of the construction materials production in Uzbekistan. Uzbekistan exports cement to Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan.

There are five big cement facilities and several small ones with total capacity of 8.5 mln tons in Uzbekistan. Qizilqumsement JSC with capacity of 3.1 mln tons and Akhangarancement JSC with capacity of 1.7 mln tons are the biggest of them. In the next five years, Uzbekistan plans to increase the volume of cement output by 50%, to reach 17 mln tons per year.

Cement industry intends to build several large plants in Uzbekistan. For example, Russian holding Eurocement Group will invest $ 220 mln in cement production in a “dry way” with the capacity of 2.4 mln tons per year. Two more cement plants will be built by Chinese investors. The first will be built by Xin Lei in the Akhangaran region and will have an annual capacity of 1 mln tons and cost $108 mln; the other one, by Akhangaranshifer, also with a capacity of 1 mln tons and a cost of $100 .