China's Si Jie Stone Eyes Battery & Lighting Plants in Uzbekistan

Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) — A Chinese manufacturer is eyeing Uzbekistan as the launchpad for two industrial ventures — one targeting the fast-growing battery recycling market, the other aimed squarely at export-oriented lighting production.

Deputy Minister of Investments, Industry and Trade of Uzbekistan Ilzat Kasimov met with Si Jie Stone CEO Lian Huiming at the ministry's Tashkent headquarters to discuss the Chinese company's expansion plans and the prospect of establishing new manufacturing facilities across Uzbekistan's regions.

Si Jie Stone presented two flagship projects during the talks. The first envisions a high-technology enterprise for the processing and recycling of accumulator batteries — a sector gaining strategic relevance globally as electric vehicle adoption accelerates and governments tighten regulations on battery waste disposal. The second project targets the establishment of a lighting products manufacturing facility with an explicit export orientation, positioning Uzbekistan as a production hub rather than merely a domestic market.

Neither project's investment volume nor target region was disclosed in the official readout, but the framing — regional deployment, phased implementation, export focus — is consistent with Tashkent's broader industrial policy of attracting anchor manufacturers to special economic zones and regional industrial clusters outside the capital.

"The sides confirmed their interest in further developing cooperation and strengthening business ties," the ministry stated, adding that both parties expressed readiness to move toward the phased practical implementation of joint initiatives.

The meeting is the latest in a string of Chinese industrial engagements with Uzbekistan's investment ministry, reflecting Beijing's deepening economic footprint across Central Asia and Tashkent's deliberate strategy of channeling that interest into domestic manufacturing capacity rather than raw material extraction alone.