Economic performance Since gaining independence in 1991, Uzbekistan and the other four Central Asian republics have gradually been moving from a state-controlled economy to a market economy. All five countries have pursued public policies which focus on buffering the political and economic spheres from external shocks. This includes maintaining a trade balance, minimizing public debt, and accumulating national reserves. The republics cannot totally insulate themselves from negative exterior forces, however. Particularly significant is the persistently weak recovery of global industrial production and international trade since 2008. Although both exports and imports have grown impressively over the past decade, the republics remain vulnerable to economic shocks, owing to their reliance on exports of raw materials, a restricted circle of trading partners, and a negligible manufacturing capacity. Uzbekistan emerged relatively unscathed from the
2008 financial crisis, consistently recording economic growth of over 7% from 2007 onwards. The country is more or less self-sufficient in
oil and
natural gas and is a major exporter of cotton. Against a background of strong economic growth, the national development strategy is focusing on nurturing new high-tech industries and orienting the economy towards export markets. Whereas
Kyrgyzstan,
Tajikistan, and
Kazakhstan have been members of the
World Trade Organization since 1998, 2013, and 2015 respectively, Uzbekistan and
Turkmenistan have adopted a policy of self-reliance. Symptomatic of this policy is the lesser role played by foreign direct investment in Uzbekistan. It contributed just 1.6% of GDP in 2015, after peaking at 4.2% of GDP in 2010. In Uzbekistan, the state controls virtually all strategic sectors of the economy, including agriculture, manufacturing, and finance, with foreign investors being relegated to less vital sectors, tourism for example. ;Funding for strategic economic sectors Uzbekistan's anti-crisis package for 2009−2012 helped it to rebound from the
2008 financial crisis by injecting funds into strategic economic sectors. For the period up to 2015, these sectors were the
energy, oil and gas industries; the
chemical,
textile and
automobile industries;
non-ferrous metals;
engineering;
pharmaceuticals; high-quality processing of agricultural products; and
construction materials. Each of these sectors tends to involve large companies equipped with design bureaux and laboratories. There are also specialized state institutions which actively promote innovation. These include the Agency for Technology Transfer (since 2008), which transfers technology to the regions, the Scientific and Technical Information State Unitary Enterprise (since 2009), and the Intellectual Property Agency of Uzbekistan (since 2011).
Modernization of the economy Like its Central Asian neighbours, Uzbekistan has been modernizing the industrial sector and fostering the development of service industries through business-friendly fiscal policies and other measures, to reduce the share of agriculture in GDP. Between 2005 and 2013, the share of agriculture dropped from 28% to 19% of GDP in Uzbekistan. One of these measures has been the creation, by decree, of free industrial zones (FIZ) to foster the modernization of all economic sectors. The Navoi region became the first FIZ in December 2008. It was followed by Angren in the Tashkent region in April 2012 and Djizak in the Sirdary region in March 2013. The enterprises established in these FIZ have already produced some inventions and are involved in public−private partnerships through which they co-finance projects in innovation with the Fund for the Reconstruction and Development of Uzbekistan, set up in May 2006. == Science and technology ==