TASHKENT (RIA Novosti) – Uzbekistan plans to attract Chinese companies to uranium production projects on its territory, the Prime news agency said on Friday.

The cooperation plan was approved during Uzbek President Islam Karimov’s visit to China in April. Uzbekistan’s Geology and Mineral Resources Committee is currently preparing a list of possible uranium deposits.

A committee spokesman declined to name the Chinese companies which were invited to take part in the project. In August 2009, China’s CGNPC Uranium Resources Co and Uzbekistan’s Geology and Mineral Resources Committee set up the Uz-China Uran joint venture on a parity basis, with a charter capital of $4.6 million to prospect for uranium in the Kyzyl Kum Desert.

In 2009, Uzbekistan and Japan signed an agreement on the joint exploration of uranium deposits.

Uzbekistan’s uranium reserves are estimated at 185,800 metric tons. According to the most recent uranium production report released in 2007, about 2,270 metric tons were produced in the country that year. According to data by the International Atomic Energy Agency, Uzbekistan is ranked seventh in the world in terms of uranium reserves and fifth in terms of its production.