Business Opportunities for
Pakistanis in Uzbekistan

Most Pakistanis know Uzbekistan only as the country with the world's most beautiful mosques, the ancient Silk Road cities of Samarkand and Bukhara. What they do not know is that Uzbekistan right now is one of the fastest-growing economies in Central Asia and one of the most open for Pakistani entrepreneurs. There are direct flights from Lahore, a budget airline that makes the route genuinely affordable, 130 Pakistani joint ventures already operating on the ground, 24 special economic zones covering everything from pharmaceuticals to tech, and a currency so affordable that your costs are a fraction of what you would pay in Dubai or Istanbul. I went there, I took the cheapest flight I have ever had in my life, and I saw what is actually there. This is the full guide.

Visa Policy for Pakistanis

Pakistani passport holders cannot use the Uzbekistan e-visa portal. As of 2026, Pakistan is not included in Uzbekistan's e-visa eligible country list. You must apply through the Uzbekistan Embassy in Islamabad in person. This is an important point to plan around: the visa process requires time, a physical visit to the embassy and the right supporting documents before your trip.

Getting There from Pakistan

This is where Uzbekistan stands apart from most Central Asian countries for Pakistanis. You do not need to connect through Dubai, Istanbul or any other hub. There are direct flights from Lahore to Tashkent, and more importantly there is now a budget airline on this exact route making it one of the most affordable international destinations reachable from Pakistan.

Direct Flights

The budget option via Centrum Air is what changes everything. Before, flying from Pakistan to Central Asia required connecting via a Gulf carrier, adding hours and cost. Now a Pakistani can board a direct flight to Tashkent for a fraction of the price. It is the same story I told with my Samarkand–Tashkent flight: Centrum Air is genuinely affordable and genuinely decent.

My Centrum Air flight review. The budget airline that is quietly making Pakistan–Uzbekistan travel incredibly affordable.

Connecting Options

If direct flights are full, the cleanest connection is via Istanbul (Turkish Airlines), which has a strong network into Tashkent. Emirates via Dubai and flydubai also serve Tashkent. Total travel time via Istanbul is approximately 7–8 hours with a short layover.

Islam Karimov Tashkent International Airport. A modern, well-organised facility that has seen major upgrades as Uzbekistan pushes to become a Central Asian travel hub.

Pakistan and Uzbekistan: A Rapidly Growing Partnership

The trade relationship between Pakistan and Uzbekistan has moved much faster than most people realise. Bilateral trade exceeded $400 million in 2024, and in just the first half of 2025 it hit $253.7 million a 123% year-on-year jump. By August 2025 Uzbekistan had officially become Pakistan's largest trading partner in all of Central Asia. Both governments have set a formal target of $2 billion in bilateral trade within five years.

Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA)

A Preferential Trade Agreement between Pakistan and Uzbekistan has been in force since 2023 and currently covers 17 product categories, with negotiations actively underway to expand the list to 100. Pakistani exports benefiting from the PTA include pharmaceuticals, textiles, leather goods, agricultural commodities and surgical instruments. The Transit Trade Agreement signed in 2021 allows Uzbek goods to pass through Karachi Port, Port Qasim and Gwadar, opening a logistics corridor that works in both directions.

The sectors Uzbekistan's government has formally invited Pakistani businesses to enter include: construction materials, food processing, electrical equipment, chemicals and value-added textiles industries where Uzbekistan is actively modernising and where Pakistan has a competitive supply base. The Pakistan Business Council published a dedicated Uzbekistan Market Access 2025–26 report for Pakistani businesses, a signal that the business community on both sides is taking this corridor seriously.

Language Barrier and the Russian Reality

Here is something Pakistani visitors are often not prepared for: Uzbekistan spent 70 years under Soviet rule from 1924 to 1991. That left a deep imprint on the language, culture, architecture and business culture of the country. Understanding this is essential before you go.

The official language is Uzbek, a Turkic language that is completely different from Urdu, Arabic or Farsi. After independence in 1991, Uzbekistan switched its script from Cyrillic to the Latin alphabet: so today's young generation reads and writes Uzbek in Latin letters while older Uzbeks still use the Cyrillic version they grew up with. If you walk into a government building, a market, or a residential neighbourhood outside the Tashkent city centre, you will be speaking to people in Uzbek or Russian, not English.

Russian is the second language and arguably more useful than English for a business traveller who is going to spend time outside Tashkent's business district. Professionals aged 35 and above typically speak Russian as a first or equal language. Many business negotiations at small and medium enterprise level are conducted in Russian. Government bureaucracy at lower levels still functions largely in Russian or Uzbek, not English.

For Pakistani tourists, this is manageable: the warmth toward Pakistani visitors is genuine and people are helpful even without a shared language. For someone planning to establish a business or live there, budget serious time for language learning. The Pakistani professionals who have made it work in Uzbekistan consistently say the same thing: learning the language unlocked everything else.

Soviet Influence You Will See Everywhere

The Soviet era shaped Tashkent's urban layout: wide boulevards, large public squares, Soviet-style apartment blocks sitting next to gleaming new glass towers. Outside the old city quarters of Samarkand and Bukhara, much of what you see architecturally in Uzbek cities is Soviet. The metro system in Tashkent (one of the most beautiful in the world, with each station differently decorated) is a Soviet-era masterpiece. The industrial base, the technical university system, the railway infrastructure: all Soviet legacies. This is not a negative. It means Uzbekistan inherited real infrastructure that many developing countries lack.

The Currency Advantage

This is the part that surprises Pakistanis most when they first land. Uzbekistan uses the Uzbek Som (UZS) and the exchange rate is extraordinarily favorable. One US dollar exchanges for approximately 12,100–12,350 Uzbek Som (mid-2026 rate). At the current USD/PKR rate, this means one Pakistani rupee buys roughly 43–44 Uzbek Som.

What this translates to in practical terms: a full meal at a good local restaurant in Tashkent might cost 80,000–120,000 UZS. In Pakistani rupees, that is roughly 1,800–2,700 PKR. A decent hotel in central Tashkent runs 500,000–700,000 UZS per night, equivalent to approximately 11,000–16,000 PKR. If you are a Pakistani professional or entrepreneur with PKR income, you will find Uzbekistan genuinely, significantly affordable compared to Dubai, Turkey or even Malaysia.

For a Pakistani setting up a business operation in Uzbekistan, the cost structure is very different from what you would face in Dubai or even Baku. Salaries for qualified local staff, office rent, operational costs: all dramatically lower in USD or PKR terms. A software developer with good English and three years of experience in Tashkent can cost a fraction of what the same profile would demand in Dubai or even Lahore at current market rates.

The Big Cities Worth Knowing

Uzbekistan is not just Tashkent. It is a country of 37 million people spread across a diverse geography: from the industrial Fergana Valley in the east, to the ancient desert cities of the west, to the modern capital in the centre. Understanding the cities helps you understand where the business opportunities actually sit.

For most Pakistani entrepreneurs the entry point is Tashkent: that is where the IT Park is, where the international business community operates, where the flights land and where the banking infrastructure is concentrated. But Samarkand is increasingly a second base as tourism infrastructure expands dramatically around its UNESCO heritage sites.

Tourism: The Silk Road Is Booming

Tourism is one of the most underrated economic stories in Uzbekistan right now. The country has six UNESCO World Heritage Sites and sits at the heart of the historic Silk Road, the ancient trade network that connected China to Europe through Central Asia. Samarkand's Registan, the old city of Bukhara, the walled fortress of Khiva, the ancient ruins of Shahrisabz: these are genuinely world-class heritage destinations that most Western tourists have not yet discovered at scale.

Pakistani travellers have started going to Uzbekistan for exactly this reason. The combination of Muslim-majority country, halal food everywhere, staggering Islamic architecture and very affordable costs makes it a natural fit for Pakistani and South Asian tourists. Travel agencies in Lahore and Karachi are now actively marketing Uzbekistan packages, and the numbers are growing every season.

The tourism opportunity for a Pakistani entrepreneur is very specific: there is almost no Urdu-speaking hospitality infrastructure in Uzbekistan. No Pakistani-run travel agency operating from within the country. Very few Pakistani restaurants. No Urdu tour guides at Samarkand or Bukhara. The South Asian tourist market is growing, and the service layer that this market needs does not yet exist. That is a gap. A well-run Urdu-speaking travel desk, a Pakistani halal restaurant in the Samarkand old city, a hospitality operation targeting South Asian visitors: these are underserved niches right now.

The Registan in Samarkand: one of the most breathtaking public squares in the Islamic world. Built in the 15th century, it is the centrepiece of Uzbekistan's Silk Road heritage and draws hundreds of thousands of visitors annually.

Pakistani Students and Community

One of the lesser-known facts about Uzbekistan is that it has been hosting Pakistani students for years, largely under the radar. The primary draw is the medical university system: Uzbekistan has several medical universities that offer MBBS programmes in English at tuition fees far below what Pakistani private medical colleges charge. For families who cannot afford private medical education in Pakistan and whose children did not get into government colleges, Uzbekistan has become a genuine alternative.

Beyond medical students, there are Pakistani students in engineering, IT, business and economics programmes across Tashkent's universities. The total number of Pakistani students enrolled across Uzbek universities runs into several hundred, with the number growing each year as more Pakistani families become aware of the option.

The broader Pakistani community in Uzbekistan is small but established. It consists of students, a small number of business professionals working in trade and IT, and some long-term residents who arrived years ago and built their lives there. Unlike in Baku or Dubai, there is no large settled Pakistani community with mosques, Pakistani restaurants and formal community organisations. The community is dispersed and informal. For a newcomer, finding fellow Pakistanis requires some effort, though university students tend to form their own informal networks.

Real Business Opportunities

Based on what I have seen on the ground, what the IT Park document reveals about incentives, and what Uzbekistan's economic trajectory looks like, these are the sectors where a Pakistani entrepreneur or investor has a genuine opening right now.

Special Economic Zones: 24 Options, Not Just One

Uzbekistan has built one of the most extensive special economic zone systems in Central Asia. There are currently 24 large SEZs and over 742 smaller industrial zones with more than 4,000 registered companies. These are not all tech zones: they cover pharmaceuticals, agro-industry, manufacturing, logistics and tourism. SEZ industrial output exceeded $4 billion in 2023, with nearly $1 billion in exports. Understanding this landscape helps a Pakistani entrepreneur find the right entry point for their specific sector.

Types of Zones Available

All SEZ investors in Uzbekistan receive: full exemption from profit tax, property tax and land tax for the duration of their zone agreement; simplified customs procedures; investment protection guarantees under Uzbek law; and access to pre-built infrastructure. Foreign investors including Pakistanis are explicitly eligible to register companies in these zones.

IT Park Uzbekistan: Specifically for Tech Companies

Among all the special zones, IT Park Uzbekistan deserves its own section because it is the most structured and internationally recognised option for technology and software businesses. It has 3,400+ member companies, of which over 970 have foreign capital. It is genuinely active, well-administered and open to Pakistani-founded companies registered in Uzbekistan.

Who Qualifies and How to Apply

IT Park membership is for companies engaged in qualifying technology activities: software development, mobile and web applications, BPO and outsourcing for foreign clients, game development, e-learning, cybersecurity, IoT, fintech, web and graphic design, 3D animation and digital services. Pakistani IT firms offering software development, design studios and call centres targeting foreign clients all potentially qualify. The application is assessed by an Expert Board that reviews your business plan and revenue projections.

The registration process requires one physical visit to Uzbekistan to open a bank account. Total company formation cost is approximately $1,000 ($850 IT Park fee + $150 government fees), handled through the One Stop Shop at my.it-park.uz. For companies establishing outside Tashkent, IT Park's Zero Risk programme offers one year of free office space for firms meeting revenue or export thresholds. IT Park also has 14 branch offices across Uzbekistan for companies that want to be based outside the capital.

Transport: The Afrosiyob Bullet Train and Beyond

One of the things that genuinely surprised me about Uzbekistan is the quality of its internal transport infrastructure. For a Central Asian country, the investment in connectivity is remarkable.

Afrosiyob High-Speed Rail

Uzbekistan operates the Afrosiyob high-speed train, manufactured by Spain's Talgo and running at up to 250 km/h. Current routes: Tashkent to Samarkand in 2 hours 8 minutes, Samarkand to Bukhara in 1 hour 12 minutes, making the full Tashkent–Bukhara journey approximately 3 hours 20 minutes. Fares run roughly €30–40 for economy class. A new Tashkent–Khiva high-speed service launched in May 2026, cutting a previously 14-hour journey to around 7 hours. For a Pakistani doing a business-and-tourism trip, the Afrosiyob makes it genuinely practical to see Samarkand and Bukhara in a single extended day-trip from Tashkent.

This train also matters for business: you do not need to fly domestically. Uzbekistan's major commercial cities are within a few hours of each other by rail, the trains are reliable and comfortable, and the Afrosiyob books up quickly during peak season so reserve 45 days in advance when possible.

The Afrosiyob: Uzbekistan's high-speed rail linking Tashkent to Samarkand in just over two hours. One of the best-value train journeys in Central Asia and a reminder that Uzbekistan's infrastructure is more developed than most people expect.

Tashkent Metro

The Tashkent Metro is one of the most architecturally beautiful metro systems in the world. Each station was designed by a different Soviet-era architect and decorated with unique marble, mosaic, and ceramic artwork. Beyond its aesthetic value, it is a genuinely efficient way to move around the capital. Fares are extremely cheap: one ride costs 2,000–2,500 UZS (roughly 50 PKR). For a Pakistani in Tashkent for business, the metro is the fastest and most affordable way to travel between the IT Park, the city centre and business districts.

Road Transport and Taxis

Ride-hailing apps including Yandex Go (Russia's Uber equivalent, dominant across Central Asia and the CIS region) and Uklon operate extensively in Tashkent and other major cities. Ordering a taxi is simple, prices are shown upfront in Som, and the service is reliable. Intercity road travel is available via shared taxis (marshrutkas) for shorter routes or private hire for longer distances.

Professionalism and Business Culture

Uzbekistan under President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, who came to power in 2016, has undergone significant economic liberalisation and reform. The business registration process that used to take weeks now takes days. Corruption has been addressed more openly than before. Foreign investment procedures have been streamlined. The tone from the top has shifted toward creating a genuinely competitive environment for business.

At the IT Park level and in Tashkent's formal business community, professionalism is high. Meetings are structured, punctuality is respected, and English-speaking business professionals in the tech sector are well-educated and internationally aware. The IT community in particular is connected to global standards through platforms like Upwork, Fiverr and direct contracts with European and North American clients.

Outside the formal tech and finance sectors, business culture remains more relationship-driven and traditional in the Uzbek-Russian Central Asian manner. Trust is built over time, initial meetings are for getting to know each other rather than closing deals, and having a warm introduction through an existing contact carries significant weight. For Pakistani entrepreneurs, this is actually familiar territory: South Asian business culture shares many of the same values around relationship-building, hospitality and trust before transaction.

Average Wages in Uzbekistan

This is the number that matters most if you are thinking about setting up operations in Uzbekistan and hiring locally. Wages are significantly lower than Pakistan's major cities in dollar terms, which is one of the core reasons Pakistani and international businesses find Uzbekistan attractive as an operating base.

For a Pakistani entrepreneur planning to hire locally, the key takeaway is that qualified, English-speaking staff in Tashkent costs a fraction of comparable talent in Lahore or Karachi when measured in dollar terms. A fully staffed small office of 5–8 people: developer, accountant, office manager, sales and logistics: can be operational for a monthly wage bill of USD 3,000–5,000. That cost structure simply does not exist in Dubai, Malaysia or Turkey.

How Does Uzbekistan Compare to Pakistan in Size?

Uzbekistan covers 448,978 square kilometres: roughly half the size of Pakistan's 881,913 square kilometres. In population, it has approximately 37 million people compared to Pakistan's 240 million. It is the most populous country in Central Asia by a significant margin: Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Kyrgyzstan all have smaller populations. This matters because Uzbekistan has the largest domestic consumer market in Central Asia.

Being landlocked is Uzbekistan's one geographic disadvantage: it is one of only two doubly landlocked countries in the world (surrounded entirely by landlocked countries). This makes sea-based trade complicated, requiring transshipment through Russia, Kazakhstan, Iran or China. For Pakistan, this is actually an opportunity: Pakistan's coastline at Karachi and Gwadar provides a potential sea access corridor for Central Asian trade, and there are active government-level discussions about Pakistani ports serving as Uzbekistan's gateway to the Indian Ocean and beyond.

Practical Things to Know Before You Go

Currency and Payments

Bring US Dollars and exchange to Uzbek Som on arrival. Exchange booths are available at the airport and throughout Tashkent. ATMs are plentiful in the capital but less reliable in smaller cities. Card payments are increasingly accepted in major hotels and restaurants but cash in Som remains essential for markets, transport and smaller businesses.

Language

Uzbek is the official language (written in Latin script). Russian is widely spoken by professionals and older generations. English is functional in the IT Park, upscale hotels and international business settings. Outside these contexts, a basic knowledge of Russian phrases or a reliable translation app is essential. Google Translate works offline with Uzbek and Russian language packs downloaded in advance.

Accommodation

Tashkent has a full range of accommodation from international business hotels (Hilton, Wyndham, Hyatt) to mid-range local hotels and guesthouses. Samarkand and Bukhara have excellent boutique guesthouses in historic buildings within the old city. Prices are substantially lower than comparable options in Dubai or Istanbul. A decent business hotel in Tashkent city centre runs USD 60–100 per night.

Food

Uzbek cuisine is halal by default. The national dish plov (rice cooked with lamb, carrots and spices) is available everywhere and genuinely excellent. Bread (non), kebabs, samsa (pastry filled with meat) and fresh salads are staples. Restaurants in Tashkent range from traditional Uzbek to Russian, Korean and increasingly international options. Pakistani food is virtually absent: something a Pakistani restaurateur could change.

SIM Card and Internet

Buy a local SIM card on arrival: Ucell, Beeline and UzMobile are the main providers. A local SIM with data costs around 50,000–100,000 UZS for a monthly package with generous data. 4G coverage is strong in Tashkent and other major cities. Internet speeds are good: important for the large remote-working and IT contractor community based there.

When you add it all together: a budget direct flight from Lahore that I personally took and reviewed, a currency that makes your costs dramatically lower, 130 Pakistani joint ventures already running proof that it works, 24 special economic zones including dedicated pharma and tech parks, 8.2 million tourists in 2024 heading toward a 15 million target, and 37 million people in the most populous Central Asian country with almost no Pakistani hospitality infrastructure serving them yet Uzbekistan is a serious destination for a Pakistani entrepreneur who is willing to go early.

The ones who look now will be ahead of those who look in three years. Uzbekistan is not a crowded market for Pakistanis. That is exactly the point.