BAKU, Azerbaijan, February 28. Japan is set to play a pivotal role in transforming Uzbekistan’s IT landscape, with significant investments and a long-term strategy aimed at establishing digital hubs and fostering a new generation of IT talent, Advisor to the Minister of Digital Technologies of Uzbekistan Sakurai Akihiro told Trend in an exclusive interview.
“The IT market in Uzbekistan is being actively expanded by Japanese companies, who are also becoming members of IT Park Uzbekistan. The number of IT Park members with Japanese capital has reached ten companies as of February 2025, with five of them already exporting IT services to Japan. This represents a substantial increase in comparison to the commencement of 2024, when the Ministry of Digital Technologies and IT Park initiated a serious approach to Japan,” he said.
He claims that nine members from the Japanese IT Park have rolled up their sleeves and created 87 new jobs in Uzbekistan by the time 2024 comes around. These companies are not just pushing the envelope with innovative technologies in the sector; they’re also opening doors to valuable job opportunities and sharpening a skilled workforce.
“The Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry (METI) is actively involved in the process, and we are working together with them to develop a strong workforce capable of meeting the growing demands of the global IT market. As part of its long-term vision, Japan aims to further boost the capacity of Uzbekistan’s IT sector by building more digital hubs and establishing dedicated research centers,” Akihiro explained.
With an eye on the future, he laid his cards on the table, disclosing that Japan’s game plan for Uzbekistan involves ramping up the number of IT professionals in the country. The goal is to double the headcount in IT parks and give a big boost to Uzbekistan’s IT workforce within Japanese companies by 2025.
He also discussed Japan’s serious social problem of an aging society and a decreasing population. The Japanese Government’s Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry (METI) issued a forecast report of a shortage of 790,000 IT professionals by 2030 in the worst-case scenario.
“With this background, METI and the Ministry of Digital Technologies of Uzbekistan signed a Memorandum of Cooperation at the end of October 2024 to promote cooperation in the development and utilization of digital talents," Akihiro noted.
He emphasized that JETRO, the Japan External Trade Organization, supports Uzbekistan's Digital Strategy 2030 to boost IT exports to $5 billion and is organizing joint initiatives, including the Uzbekistan IT Outsourcing Conference in Tokyo and sending Japanese IT missions to Uzbekistan so that IT companies and experts from both countries can strengthen their relationship in IT and digital technology.
“The Japanese people and the company share a long-term perspective on collaboration. By 2030, I envision a three-phased strategy: short, mid, and long term. The mid-term plan includes the establishment of Japanese IT hubs or research centers in Uzbekistan. It is imperative that both nations establish a shared vision, fortify their relationship, cultivate trust, and deepen their cooperation over time,” he said.
He believes that the long game of Japan-Uzbekistan cooperation in digital technologies is a goldmine and holds a world of promise.
“I have initiated discussions with the Japanese Government, the public sector, academia, financial institutions, and the IT private sector, ranging from large global corporations to local IT ventures, to foster Uzbek-Japanese IT cooperation. We anticipate a 35-fold increase in IT export quantities to Japan and a more than doubled number of IT park residents in 2025, as there is a robust pipeline to add new IT park residents from Japan,” Akihiro stressed.
He mentioned that a number of plans are in the pipeline to bolster the relationship in digital technologies, including shining a light on Uzbekistan’s IT potential, beefing up the capacity of the Uzbek IT industry and talents, and laying the groundwork for favorable conditions for their operations.
“Overseas assets from Japanese corporations are more than double the GDP of Japan. South-South cooperation from Japanese companies in the global South economy will also be expected in my mid-term vision, which is beneficial from big Japanese companies’ global operations,” he concluded.