TASHKENT (Xinhua) — Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev has signed a decree on measures to create the Nukus Free Economic Zone (FEZ) to attract foreign investment to the northwest of the country, Uzbek Justice Ministry said Thursday.

The decree defines the steps to transform already existing free economic zone Nukus-Pharm (pharmacology) into larger Nukus FEZ in the administrative centre of the Republic of Karakalpakstan.

The main objective of the Nukus FEZ is to attract direct foreign and domestic investments for the production of import-substituting products that are in demand on foreign markets, according to the document.

The duration of the Nukus FEZ is 30 years with the special tax and customs regimes.

The decree says that the participants of the previous Nukus-Pharm FEZ will receive the status of participants in the Nukus FEZ without undergoing additional procedures, and they will retain the previously provided tax and customs preferences.

Uzbekistan has been carrying out economic reforms for the past two years to attract foreign investment and created 20 free economic zones across the country.