Uzbekistan OKs deal with French PSA Group on joint car production

By  Trend

Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev has signed a decree to approve the agreement between Uzavtosanoat JSC and France’s Peugeot Citroen Automobiles S.A. (PSA Group) on creation of a joint venture to produce light commercial vehicles (LCV).

Uzavtosanoat JSC and PSA Group signed an agreement in May 2017 to create a joint venture in the form of a limited liability company – Uzbekistan Peugeot Citroen Automotive (UzPCA LLC).

Under the decree posted on the Uzbek president’s website, the joint venture’s authorized capital totals 29.3 million euros. The estimated total cost of the project for organization of light commercial vehicles’ production will be 133.3 million euros.

This partnership aims at building a production plant in the Free Industrial Zone of Jizzakh, located 200 km from the Tashkent, in Uzbekistan, to produce Peugeot and Citroën LCVs, for passenger and freight carriage.

Production capacity is estimated to be at up to 16,000 vehicles per year, and the vehicles will be sold in Uzbekistan and exported to foreign countries.

The plant is planned to be commissioned in 2019.

President Mirziyoyev also approved an investment agreement signed by the Uzbek government presented by the State Committee for Investments, PSA Group and Uzavtosanoat JSC. The agreement reflects the specific obligations of the foreign investor and measures for state support provided by the government of Uzbekistan to UzPCA LLC.

Under the decree, UzPCA LLC and other participants of the project are granted significant tax benefits for the construction period, as well as for a period of 10 years from the commissioning of facility for the production of light commercial vehicles for a ten-year period.