Starting Ceremony

Chinese engineering firm Poly Technologies to start construction of Uzbekistan-based rubber plant.

Uzbekistan has a large population but with an industrial base that has not yet caught up with world standards. Following independence, the country gradually built some industrial manufacturing facilities through cooperation with foreign firms, including an automobile factory jointly built with General Motors, a truck and bus manufacturing plant jointly built with Germany-based MAN AG and a joint-venture plant built with Japanese Isuzu. However, the tires required for the three facilities and its domestic maintenance market all rely on imports.

In order to switch from imported tires to homemade products and expand exports to neighbouring countries, the Uzbekistan government decided to build tire manufacturing plants and, since 2008, started the process of selecting partners for construction and operation of the factories. After nearly six years of negotiation and bidding, Poly Technologies was selected as a cooperation partner by the Uzbek government. During the visit of the Uzbek president to China in August of 2014, Poly Technologies signed a $184 mln engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) agreement with Uzbekistan National Chemical and confirmed a turnkey construction project to produce annually 3 mln semi steel radial automotive tires, 200,000 bias agricultural tires and 100,000 linear meters of conveyor belt in the first phase of the project.

Attendees and speakers at the opening ceremony included Uzbekistan deputy Prime Minister Ibragimov Gulomjon Inomovich, Chinese ambassador to Uzbekistan Sun Lijie, China Poly Group General Manager and Poly Technologies Chairman Zhang Zhengao. In addition, more than 100 representatives from media organizations and government agencies involved in the project from both China and Uzbekistan also attended the ceremony.

The Uzbekistan rubber plant project is regarded by Uzbek President and government as a national strategic development project and the construction of the facility is being treated as a high priority project under highly favourable terms. Completion of the production facility is expected to greatly improve Uzbekistan’s self-sufficiency in providing tires to its automotive factories and after-sale service markets while furthering the advancement of industrial cooperation between China and Uzbekistan, a level of cooperation which will be of great significance to developing Uzbekistan’s economy and drive local social development.

During the ceremony, the Uzbek deputy Prime Minister said in his speech that he was looking forward with anticipation to the opening of the rubber plant and mentioned with praise that the construction of the project is expected to greatly improve the production capacity of Uzbekistan’s rubber products. Ambassador Sun Lijie noted that the Chinese embassy in Uzbekistan is considering China’s Silk Road Economic Belt initiative as an opportunity to continue the support of Chinese firms who wish to invest and start an undertaking in Uzbekistan, much as the embassy has always done. Finally, the Poly Technologies Chairman took the podium to emphasize that the manufacturer will ensure that the rubber plants it builds in Uzbekistan meet all the standards and requirement in terms of quality of product and production goals, and that a rigorous and practical work ethic will be applied to make sure that construction is completed on schedule.

Sino-Uzbek cooperation and the One Belt, One Road initiative

The rubber production facility is one of the key projects implemented as part of the cooperation agreement signed between China and Uzbekistan during the official visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping to the country. Uzbekistan is located at the heart of the coverage area of the One Belt, One Road initiative and has strategic importance from both geographical and political perspectives.

In October of 2014, Poly Technologies dispatched a delegation responsible for the project for a two-week visit to Uzbekistan at the invitation of the Uzbek government, during which both parties conducted a detailed discussion on the follow-up plan of the project and negotiated the terms of the agreement. Established in January, 1984, Poly Technologies, the predecessor of China Poly Group and an important part of the group, is an international engineering and contracting firm that has been authorized by the Chinese government to engage in the import and export of specialized equipment and technologies as well as commodities. Based on the firm’s good relationships with over 100 countries and regions worldwide in the field of defence and security, energy and mining, project contracting and exports of civil technologies, the company has built a strong brand image and reputation globally.

On December 4, 2014, Uzbek President Islam Karimov signed and issued a presidential decree regarding the establishment of a rubber plant in Angren Special Industrial Zone, marking the commencement of the construction of the project. During the visit of the delegation, Poly Technologies general manager Zhang Zhengao met with several political and business leaders, including Uzbekistan’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Economic Relations and Trade as well as the chairman of Uzbekistan National Chemical, and expressed his appreciation for the support and collaboration provided to the project by the Uzbek government and looks forward to further expanding the company’s cooperation with the country.

Poly Technologies, an aggressive engineering business

Poly Technologies, which has established extensive relationships with several hundred companies and government institutions in nearly 100 countries and regions worldwide, is now among China’s top 100 foreign trade companies with aggregate foreign trade reaching tens of billions of US dollars. The firm has developed a reputation as a trusted Chinese company with global influence. In addition, Poly Technologies has undertaken over 40 engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) projects across a number of overseas markets and has been active in conducting collaboration in EPC, build-transfer (BT), build-operate-transfer (BOT) and public-private partnerships (PPP) projects worldwide, making great contributions to the economic development and industrial transformation of the countries where its customers are based.

Poly Technologies expanded its presence into Uzbekistan more than ten years ago. The successful signing of the project represents a major breakthrough for the company in the central Asian market. The implementation of the project is of great significance to Poly Technologies’ international development strategy as it will not only drive the economic development of the local market but also lay a sound foundation for the Chinese company to expand its engineering business beyond China’s borders by undertaking more infrastructure and civil engineering projects in several Asian and African counties.