Tashkent Hosts Inaugural Silk Road Finance & Tech Forum in August

Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) — Uzbekistan Launches Silk Road Fintech Forum, Targeting $1 Billion in Sector Investment by 2030

Uzbekistan's Central Bank and a Singapore-backed international network will co-host the inaugural Silk Road Finance & Technology Forum in Tashkent on August 24–26, 2026 — marking the country's most ambitious bid yet to establish itself as Central Asia's preeminent hub for digital finance and financial innovation.

The forum is being organized jointly by the Central Bank of the Republic of Uzbekistan and the Global Finance & Technology Network (GFTN), an international non-profit established with the support of the Monetary Authority of Singapore. The event will convene central bank governors, government officials, development institutions, investment funds, technology firms, and financial organizations from Central Asia, the Gulf states, Europe, and Asia.

The timing is deliberate. Uzbekistan has set binding fintech targets under its national programme through 2030: attracting $1 billion in foreign investment into the fintech sector, training more than 5,000 specialist professionals, licensing over 200 market participants, and launching more than 100 startups through accelerator and incubation programmes. Experimental work on digital currencies and stablecoins is also underway.

The country's demographic profile underpins the ambition. With a population exceeding 37 million — a significant share of them young, digitally active users — Uzbekistan presents conditions favorable to rapid uptake of electronic payments, digital assets, and new forms of banking.

The Central Bank has already deployed several instruments associated with advanced fintech jurisdictions, including a Regulatory Sandbox 2.0, an experimental QFinex Quantum Test Bed platform, a dedicated $50 million venture fund, and updated regulatory frameworks covering open banking, buy-now-pay-later services, and cybersecurity.

Forum sessions will focus on open banking, digital assets, cross-border payments, Islamic finance, and investment and technology innovation. Organizers have given the event a conceptual anchor rooted in regional heritage: the forum's framing draws on the term "Al-Jabr" — the Arabic mathematical concept that gave algebra its name — as a nod to the legacy of Al-Khwarizmi, the Central Asian scholar whose work fundamentally shaped modern science.

Sopnendu Mohanty, CEO of GFTN, articulated the conditions he sees converging in Uzbekistan. "Innovation thrives where trust, talent, and capital come together. Uzbekistan is demonstrating consistent commitment to building these foundations, and the Silk Road Finance & Technology Forum provides a timely platform for connecting international expertise with regional ambitions. We are pleased to support Central Asia's emergence as a vibrant hub for financial innovation," he said.

Analysts view the forum as a marker of a broader transition: Uzbekistan is moving from the status of a fast-growing digital market toward an active role in shaping the financial technologies of the future — positioning Tashkent as a gravitational point for investment, talent, and innovation across the Eurasian region.