The Wisconsin State Journal
December 19

With a $50 million line of credit from a U.S. agency, 20 officials and business people from Uzbekistan came to Wisconsin Wednesday to shop for manufacturing equipment.

"The main objective of our delegation is to find partners to buy equipment from and to get training and expertise," said Shaklo Abdullaeva, deputy chairwoman of the of Agency for Foreign Economic Relations for the Republic of Uzbekistan, at a seminar Wednesday.

A landlocked country of 25.5 million people in central Asia, Uzbekistan was part of the former Soviet Union.

Although Uzbekistan has little cash for trade, it has received a line of credit from the Export-Import Bank, an independent agency of the U.S. federal government.

Uzbekistani business owners want to buy equipment for food processing, textiles, information technology and construction, Abdullaeva said.

Federal trade officials steered the Uzbekstani delegation to Illinois and Wisconsin because equipment for those sectors is manufactured in the Midwest, said Trevor Gunn, a federal trade representative.

Jay Weiker of ABS Global attended the seminar, sponsored by the state Department of Commerce, to learn about the structure of business and government in Uzbekistan.

"We'd like to sell them genetics, but also our other services, like udder care and reproductive consulting," said Weiker, regional manager, Asia Pacific, for the DeForest company that focuses on reproductive issues for dairy and beef cattle.

Uzbekistan is Wisconsin's 129th largest trade partner, buying $309,980 from state businesses in 2001 and $17.2 million in 2000. Wisconsin had total exports of $10.5 billion last year.

"We have not had a lot of trade with Uzbekistan and it has not been a focus of our efforts because of ability to pay and the size the market," said Mary Regel, administrator of international development for the state.

However, the new funding makes the country an attractive market for manufacturers in Wisconsin, she said.

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