Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- A free trade zone "International Trade Center Termez" is being created in Uzbekistan.

President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev signed a decree "On measures to further develop the activities of special economic and small industrial zones in Surkhandarya region and the city of Tashkent."

According to the document, the center is being created by reducing the territory of the Termez economic zone. Termez Cargo Center Ltd. will be included in the register of the center’s participants.

The decree notes that on the basis of modern technologies, the center organizes services for the reception, storage, processing, sorting and packaging of products, as well as e-commerce portals.

The center will also establish customs, tax, certification, phytosanitary, veterinary, transportation, banking, currency exchange and mobile services, as well as medical and hotel services, vehicle maintenance services and other services for clients based on the principle of "one-stop shop".

In accordance with the decree, a procedure is introduced for entering the territory of Uzbekistan, staying in this territory and leaving it within 10 days for citizens of Afghanistan, citizens of other countries and stateless persons entering from the territory of Afghanistan, as an exception, without issuing an entry visa with the passage personal and passport control (without temporary registration).

Goods and services sold to foreign citizens and stateless persons, as well as exported to the territory of Afghanistan by entrepreneurs, are equated to exports, the decree says.

Foreign goods are placed by way of registration in the customs regime "free customs zone", it is also allowed, as an exception, their retail sale.

Foreign citizens and stateless persons who are on the territory of Uzbekistan pass through a separate checkpoint on the basis of travel documents, their return is allowed only through the same checkpoint.

Entry to and exit from the territory of the center from the territory of Afghanistan is carried out through the checkpoint "Termez-Avtoyul" through a separate passage (corridor).

By his decree, the President instructed the Fund for Reconstruction and Development of Uzbekistan to provide a loan of US$20 million to the khokimiyat of Surkhandarya region for the construction of the Termez International Trade Center. The loan is provided for a period of 3 years (including a one-year grace period) at a rate of 6-month LIBOR + 2%.