In early February, the Ministry of Digital Technologies of Uzbekistan reviewed the results of the technology park for the past year and shared plans for the future. In 2023, IT-park provided services worth $1 billion, which is 1.9 times more than in 2022. We were curious, what achievements does the Tajik IT-park have?

The IT sector has become one of the main catalysts for economic growth in Uzbekistan. The government supports it by providing new benefits, and expects that by 2030, the export of IT services alone will amount to $5 billion.

The Uzbek government creates better tax conditions and implements many programs to support companies. The goal is to support the country’s economy and provide jobs for literate young people under 30, including those who speak foreign languages.

And experts also believe that there are now more than 110 thousand young talented IT specialists in Uzbekistan.

What has Uzbekistan achieved in 5 years?
By the end of 2023, the number of residents in the Uzbek IT park reached 1,652, including 426 of them working with foreign capital. The technology park provided jobs for 26 thousand people, of which 3 thousand 641 work in the regions.

By 2030, the technology park plans to increase export figures to $5 billion, ($344 million in 2023). Now, IT park residents export their services to the USA and Great Britain.

The management of the technology park plans to increase the number of residents to 10 thousand by 2030, and create more than 300 thousand new jobs.

In addition, IT Village is being built in Uzbekistan, special places where children can study information technology and IT skills from grades 1 to 9. The President of Uzbekistan ordered to create such places in all regions. The first IT Village appeared in the Nurabad district of the Samarkand region.

To achieve its goals, the Uzbek technopark offers key programs to foreign residents: Zero Risk for foreign IT companies and Local2Global for local companies seeking to enter the global market.

The Zero Risk program provides companies with free offices in the regions for 1 year, assistance and benefits in technical equipment of the office, reimbursement of up to 15% of the costs of salaries of local employees and up to 50% of expenses (up to $5,000) on improving the skills of their employees.

The program helps reduce risks and expenses associated with business and focus on innovation and export activities.

The benefits of the Local2Global program for citizens of Uzbekistan include 50% coverage of expenses for mentors on product exports, foreign trips, participation in international conferences, as well as free access to courses on Coursera and export mentoring.

The status of a resident of the IT-park exempts from all types of taxes: corporate tax, income tax, social contributions and VAT on imported goods. Only personal income tax of 7.5% is payable.

For foreign investors, IT specialists and startup founders, a work permit is not required, and IT visas are valid for up to three years.

The one-stop service helps foreigners register a company, obtain tax returns, bank accounts and office space.

Where else do technology parks operate?

The technology park in Tashkent began operating in the summer of 2019, later than in most Central Asian countries, but in a short time it became one of the leaders in the region, offering residents benefits and preferences.

The first IT park in Kazakhstan was created back in 2003 in Almaty. After that, similar sites began operating in other regions, and now the country has a whole system. According to preliminary data, in 2023, the park exported IT services worth $500 million.

In September, IT Park Uzbekistan and Astana Hub signed a memorandum on merging under a new single brand, Central Asian Innovation Hubs.

The heads of the two IT hubs announced that the goal of this partnership would be to form a regional identity, exchange experience in the development of startup ecosystems and venture funds, as well as implement a number of joint initiatives to promote promising Central Asian projects in the international arena.

In Kyrgyzstan, the High-Tech Park with a special legal and preferential tax regime opened in 2013. According to the results of 2023, the export of services amounted to $87.1 million.

In Turkmenistan, the Turkmen IT Park was created in 2018, but there is no information about the park’s activities in the public domain.

What is happening with IT parks in Tajikistan?

The creation of a Tajik IT park has been discussed for the past 4 years. Back in 2022, the Dushanbe authorities announced that the implementation of the IT park was assigned to the Smart City State Unitary Enterprise, under the capital’s mayor’s office.

In October of that year, the Smart City State Unitary Enterprise “Asia-Plus” reported that the project was transferred to the Agency for Innovation and Digital Technologies.

“We are under the Dushanbe mayor’s office, and if the project is implemented, we can only cover the capital. The Agency will open IT parks throughout the country,” said a source in the State Unitary Enterprise.

Specialists from the Agency for Innovation and Digital Technologies told Asia Plus that they could not answer questions about the future of the IT park.

Meanwhile, Minister of Industry and New Technologies Sherali Kabir said during the summer press conference that there are already two IT parks in Tajikistan: Pamir IT Park in Khorog and IT Park Dushanbe, which is located in the building of the Sozidanie business center.

“The legislation allows for the creation of IT parks, certain preferences are provided, especially for IT specialists. There are no restrictions, it is not necessary for there to be one park, there is no such practice in the world. Many IT parks are being created, regulated by one legislative act,” the minister noted then.

He said that Tajikistan is creating its own practice with its own specifics based on the practices of Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan and the practices of leading countries of the world. “I think that we will turn a new page for the development of IT parks in our country,” Kabir noted.

Well, what is there in fact, not in words?
The Minister did not clarify what such an IT park is in the Tajik sense. After all, the named parks do not have tax and customs benefits, as in neighboring countries. That is, it is not quite an IT park.

On the territory of “Sozidanie” iPark has been operating for the third year, which is in the process of moving to another office. This iPark belongs to the public “Innovation and Industry Development Fund”.

Its residents are currently 12 companies, 4 of which directly work in the Fund’s office. The park premises are a kind of coworking, where the leading IT companies of the capital have gathered. Other companies interact with the park remotely.

Participants in this system are attracted by the fund to educational projects, with the aim of creating jobs in the IT market of Tajikistan and outsourcing, mentoring and training others in the necessary skills. The fund helps young professionals, attracting investments to them, orders for software development from real employers.

According to an IT expert, the Tajik iPark is a prototype of a technopark or IT park, but is not one in the traditional sense.

According to the interlocutor, traditional models, as we have already mentioned, primarily provide various tax and customs benefits, a certain set of business services and consulting, but so far iPark does not have this.

The expert points out that the benefits should be comprehensive, concern salaries, taxes on activities and property, import of IT equipment and technologies, etc.

“Various inspections and fines, which significantly limit the scale of activities of IT companies, should also be minimized. They cannot take risks and practice new areas of activity when they do not feel stability and opportunities for business experiments,” the expert says.

Residents of iPark also confirmed the lack of benefits. One of the residents noted that the place in “Sozidanie” is simply quiet for them due to the lack of frequent inspections (according to the latest information, the business center belongs to “Talco”).

To summarize, if we briefly answer the question “What about IT parks in Tajikistan?”, we can say that it is completely unclear when they will appear in their traditional form.