In recent years, Uzbekistan has emerged as a burgeoning hub for information technology and business process outsourcing, attracting attention from companies worldwide seeking new destinations for outsourcing and investment. At the forefront of this movement is IT Park Uzbekistan, an economic development organization based in Tashkent, operating under the Ministry of Digital Technologies. IT Park’s mission is twofold: to support local companies entering the outsourcing market and to attract international companies to Uzbekistan.
Leading the charge in expanding Uzbekistan’s IT and outsourcing footprint in North America are Kodirov Ali, Chief Manager of IT Park’s North American division, and Azizbek Yusupov, Head Manager of the same division. Their efforts are instrumental in showcasing Uzbekistan’s potential as a prime destination for outsourcing services.
One of the key advantages Uzbekistan offers is a comprehensive suite of government incentives designed to foster a favorable business environment. These include tax breaks, Zero Risk programs, and Soft-Landing Programs, all aimed at reducing barriers for foreign companies. Additionally, Uzbekistan boasts a diverse talent pool with multilingual capabilities, including proficiency in French, German, Russian, English, Arabic, and Korean. The nation’s educational system, supported by the Ministry of Digital Technologies, plays a crucial role in developing skilled professionals in advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence, cloud services, and various IT sectors.
Beyond its business-friendly environment, Uzbekistan presents a modern infrastructure with developed cities, contemporary architecture, and extensive internet coverage. The nation’s rich culture, renowned cuisine—highlighted by the country’s famous ‘plov’ (Uzbek rice pilaf)—and the hospitable nature of its people make it an inviting destination for international visitors.
The government’s dedication to developing the outsourcing sector is evident through its strategic initiatives. The establishment of the Ministry of Digital Technologies and the prioritization of IT Park as a flagship project reflect Uzbekistan’s commitment to fostering a thriving technology sector. This support is further demonstrated by high-level engagements, such as meetings between the Minister of Digital Technologies, Mr. Sherzod Shermatov, and leaders of various companies, supported by IT Park’s Director Farkhod Ibragimov, highlighting the nation’s intent to attract investment and create job opportunities.
Through the efforts of leaders like Kodirov Ali and Azizbek Yusupov, and with robust government backing, Uzbekistan is positioning itself as a compelling destination for IT and outsourcing services, offering a blend of strategic advantages that cater to the needs of global businesses.
Cognitive Business News executive editor Loren Moss met with IT Park leaders Azizbek Yusupov, head manager of the North American market division; and Mukhammad Ali Kodirov, chief manager of the North American division, during the ICMI Contact Center Expo in Orlando, where they were busy attracting new business, to discuss what makes Uzbekistan so special for IT and BPO services.
Cognitive Business News: What is IT Park Uzbekistan?
Azizbek Yusupov: IT Park Uzbekistan is an economic development organization, based in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. The organization under the Minister of Digital Technologies. We have two goals only: the first one, we support local companies to go into the outsource market. And the second goal: we attract investment by bringing international companies to Uzbekistan. This is what IT Park does.
Cognitive Business News: Why would somebody want to consider Uzbekistan for outsourcing?
Ali Kodirov: Yeah, there are so many reasons, actually. Uzbekistan is becoming one of the most developing countries in ITES market, because we have so many government incentives, like, you know, tax breaks, like, Zero Risk programs, Soft Landing Programs, and also, we have a great talent pool. Let’s say, for the BPO we have different language capacities, like French, German, Russian, English, Arabic, Korean, and so on. And also, for ITES market, for the IT market, we are developing the most advanced technologies, like AI, Cloud services, Microsoft services, and also different types of services. And we have a great education system, which is established by our Ministry, by the Ministry of Digital Technologies. And also time zone is very important. We are very close to Europe and we are very close to Eastern Asia. And also, our time zone is great for American market as well, for the night shifts. So, you know, these are the quick, you know, bullet points about why you should consider Uzbekistan as your next outsourcing destination.
Cognitive Business News: So, tell me, in Uzbekistan, what is it like for a businessperson to visit? A lot of people think Uzbekistan is very exotic, a lot of times in the United States or North America they are not as familiar. What is it that people can expect when they go to visit Uzbekistan?
Azizbek Yusupov: Yeah, when they are going to visit Uzbekistan, they can expect to see…Let’s divide it into four levels. The first one, the infrastructure. So, we have a developed infrastructure in the cities of Uzbekistan; we have high buildings; modern, you know, streets; high-tech innovation, and the internet coverage is 99% across Uzbekistan. The second one is the culture, and traditions, and the friendly relation of people. This is how our people communicate, we are friendly, we are open. And the third one is Uzbekistan’s cuisine. We have the best meals in Central Asia, especially ‘plov’. This is the most famous meal in Uzbekistan. And the fourth one, I think…business environment. We have government support, we have tax incentives, we provide office space across Uzbekistan, and we have the talents, the most important for companies.
Cognitive Business News: So, tell me about the relations that Uzbekistan has with Europe and with countries like the United States. If we put business there, is the political situation going to be stable?
Ali Kodirov: Sure, you know, Uzbekistan is a fully independent country with its own political position in the world. We are a fully democratic country, so we don’t have any problems with the financial system, with transactions. We don’t have any problem with the neighbor countries, we are very friendly, we have a political friendship with them. So, regarding European and US companies, they can easily come into our market without any problem. Why? Because, you know, we have so many European and US companies already.
And our generation, our people like Western culture. They want to be more westernized. That’s why when the Europeans or Americans come to our country, they feel quite a friendly atmosphere; they can easily communicate with our people, and it’s very easy to do business because we can understand them and their mentality.
Azizbek Yusupov: Yeah, you’re right. So, most of the cars are Chevrolet. But today, you know, the car industry is changing in Uzbekistan. We have a very good relationship with China, and lots of Chinese cars are coming, lots of European cars coming. We have distributed Citroëns across Uzbekistan. And you know, the most interesting and significant changes that have happened in the last two, three years, was that Uzbekistan just lowered the taxes for imported cars, down to 0% for electric cars. So, this is not done even in Europe, not even in the US That’s why we are thinking about the ecology, and the governments just implemented zero tax for imported electric cars. We have the most popular Chinese electric car right now in Uzbekistan. And people come to Uzbekistan are impressed by how the government supports this initiative for electrical cars today. I think in the next five to ten years Uzbekistan will be one of the countries with the most electric cars in Central Asia, and in the CIS region.
Cognitive Business News: Tell me about- we’re here at ICMI, which focuses on contact centers. Tell me about the language skills and the language talent, especially English, but also languages like German and Korean. Obviously, you can get the Russian language without Russia, which is an important thing right now. Talk about—for customer experience—talk about the language skills.
Azizbek Yusupov: You know, in Uzbekistan there are a lot of people who speak different languages. And for BPO and contact center companies, they’re coming to Uzbekistan, and while they’re searching across the globe for German speakers, we have more than 200,000 German speakers, and more than 100,000 people speaking different languages, and we have almost five million English speakers in Uzbekistan. And when we get the rates of language capabilities in Uzbekistan compared with the US, it will be a very different level, so the rate is very low, even in comparison with such a huge country as India.
The rate is high, while in Uzbekistan it will be very comfortable for contact center companies. I think this is our advantage with the Philippines, South Africa…And we have different universities that today prepare specialists in German, in Chinese, Arabic, and different languages. And moreover, the government supports private universities and centers who teach different languages. They are giving incentives to boost this industry. That’s why we have lots of people speaking different languages in Uzbekistan. I think that contact centers can get a lot of benefits from working in Uzbekistan and hiring people with different languages. This is what we propose, and this is why we came here, to showcase these advantages to all these companies.
Cognitive Business News: Tell me about the IT talent in Uzbekistan. Tell me what makes Uzbekistan competitive for software development companies, IT outsourcing companies.
Ali Kodirov: The IT trend started back seven or eight years ago, when our government and the private universities proposed adding a lot of university IT courses in the universities. Nowadays we have more than eighty universities, which offer different courses in different sectors. Nowadays the ones most in demand are AI development, cloud services and everything, and nowadays we have a lot of senior-level engineers. We have middle, juniors, and seniors. The number of senior engineers is raising year by year.
Also, one of the big companies, EPAM Systems, a billion-dollar revenue company, has hired more than a thousand employees in our region, in our country. That shows that the talent pool is there, and the specialists are there. The retention of this talent is fully supported, because the government invests a lot in the IT market, in growing the IT environment, and it’s one of the reasons why Uzbekistan is becoming an IT hub for most of the American, European and Asian companies. So, we are more than happy to deal with any companies who want to consider another fresh IT hub, for doing business.
Cognitive Business News: Tell me about the government’s commitment to developing the outsourcing sector. I mean, obviously, you have the Minister, who’s part of the cabinet. IT Park reports to the Minister. Tell me about the seriousness that the current presidency, or that the government has made to make this a priority for the country.
Azizbek Yusupov: The government is fully supporting all international companies coming to Uzbekistan; different incentives, with different support in terms of talent. Specifically, our Minister of Digital Technologies, Mr. Sherzod Shermatov is always meeting with the heads of different companies to show the intention of the Ministry and the government for developing their businesses in Uzbekistan.
And the second point, why the government is very supportive of companies: Because they’re creating jobs in Uzbekistan. This is one of the significant objectives we are working on. The jobs and the investment is very important for the government of Uzbekistan. This is the reason why IT Park is working on incentives, giving tax breaks; because we want to be attractive for international companies. We want to create more jobs, want to bring more investment, and we understand, at the same time, how important it is for companies to get something beneficial. That’s why we are always talking about the taxes, about the opportunities, that most of the companies unfortunately don’t know. But I hope in the near future Uzbekistan will be the hub for different IT and BPO companies, in the next five, seven years. So, believe me, we are right now working very hard, and one day it will give very huge results, on what we’re doing right now.
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