On December 18 President Shavkat Mirziyoyev visited an innovative scientific-production pharmaceutical cluster "Tashkent Pharma Park".

This complex is based in accordance with the decree of the Head of State dated January 28 of 2020, and on April 17 of that year the keystone laying ceremony took place.

At the first stage, a technopark is developed on an area of about 20 hectares, including an administrative center, a research and development (R&D) center, a pharmaceutical safety control laboratory, a clinical research center, a Pharmaceutical technical university and a vivarium.

To date, the construction of the administrative center has been completed. The 11-story building accommodates the Pharmaceutical Industry Development Agency, a conference hall, a co-working center, a business incubator, a museum of the industry's history and a library.

The President toured the agency and reviewed the progress of construction of the other buildings.

The main goals of the cluster - development of the country's pharmaceutical industry through introduction of high technologies, integration into the international innovation system, production of high quality drugs, medical devices and equipment, as well as training qualified specialists. A land plot of 190 hectares has been allocated in Zangiata district of Tashkent region to implement these large-scale tasks.

Industrial zone hosts 21 projects valued at a total of $818 million. The first of them was the $40 million “Grand Pharm Logistics Hub” distribution center, which created 300 jobs. Enterprises are created jointly with companies from Türkiye, India, China, Malaysia, the United Arab Emirates and Russia.

The President talked to the initiators of the projects. It was emphasized that attraction and support of investments will be steadily continued.

In the future, 20 projects worth $620 million will be implemented on the territory of the industrial zone.

Overall, the cluster will produce high quality drugs and medical devices, localized products, while creating 8 thousand jobs. The Center of good practices (GxP) will ensure the quality and compliance of products at all stages from production to delivery to the consumer.

The Head of State was also presented with information about the Pharmaceutical technical university, which will be part of the cluster.

The university will have a pharmacopoeial center, a library, a sports complex and housing for teachers and foreign specialists. It will train highly qualified specialists in the fields of industrial pharmacy, biomedicine, biochemistry, biotechnology, biopharmaceuticals and pharmaceutical chemistry. For this purpose, training will be organized based on international programs, and laboratories of microbiology, biotechnology, cell biology, pharmacology and analytical chemistry will be established.

The university has already accepted the first students this academic year. The President talked with them.

- We are attracting investors from developed countries. How do they assess Uzbekistan? Through communication with you. The main wealth of our country is the youth! It is better to use advanced programs in pharmaceuticals and train our own specialists than to pay foreign specialists and depend on them. That is why we are creating a new university and introducing dual education. Here you will not only receive theoretical knowledge, but also practical skills, working at enterprises, - underlined Shavkat Mirziyoyev.

Graduates of the university will be awarded international diplomas from the universities of Yonsei (South Korea), Sunderland and De Montfort (UK). In addition, scientific cooperation with the universities of Dundee, Pusan and Purdue has been established.