During a high-level visit of the Uzbek delegation led by Prime Minister Abdulla Aripov to the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China on September 9-10, the National Bank of Foreign Economic Activity of the Republic of Uzbekistan (UzNatsBank) and China International Capital Corporation (CICC) reached an agreement on cooperation in the Asian capital market.
On the sidelines of the 11th Belt and Road Summit, the parties signed an agreement to organize the issuance and listing of international bonds in Chinese yuan and Uzbek sum on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange for a total equivalent of $250 million. This agreement marks UzNatsBank's first entry into the Asian debt capital market and will create additional opportunities to expand the bank's international borrowing geography.
The implementation of the agreement will allow diversifying funding sources and currency structure, expanding the circle of international investors, and attracting resources from the Asian capital market to finance priority investment projects in Uzbekistan. The planned issuance will continue UzNatsBank's consistent work in international capital markets. Since 2020, the bank has carried out three bond issuances on the London and Vienna stock exchanges totaling $1.13 billion.
The agreements align with the tasks of the State Investment Program for 2026, which envisages UzNatsBank attracting resources from leading international financial institutions totaling up to $1.5 billion for the implementation of priority projects in Uzbekistan. The signed agreement is a practical result of the consistent expansion of financial and economic cooperation between Uzbekistan and China, which in recent years has reached a qualitatively new level thanks to the far-sighted policy and strategic vision of the leaders of the two countries.
Particular attention in bilateral relations is paid to trade, economic, and investment interaction. By the end of last year, trade turnover between Uzbekistan and China approached $18 billion. A new target for the coming years has been proposed to bring this figure to $30 billion. The portfolio of ongoing joint investment projects amounts to about $60 billion, and more than 6,000 joint ventures operate in Uzbekistan.
Against this background, cooperation with leading Chinese financial institutions is expanding and new mechanisms for attracting capital for investment projects are being introduced. The agreement between UzNatsBank and CICC is one of the practical steps in this direction, contributing to the expansion of Uzbekistan's presence in Asian capital markets, diversification of funding sources, and attraction of long-term resources into the country's economy.
For reference: The National Bank of Foreign Economic Activity of the Republic of Uzbekistan was founded in 1991 and is the largest systemically important bank in the country. As of the end of 2025, the bank's assets exceeded $12 billion, the loan portfolio amounted to $9 billion, and total capital exceeded $1.6 billion. China International Capital Corporation (CICC) was founded in 1995 and is one of China's leading investment banks. The company provides services in investment banking, capital markets, and asset management and has an international presence, including Hong Kong, Singapore, London, and New York.
Source: podrobno.uz