The EBRD is providing a US$5 million loan to Andijan Cable, one of the leading cable manufacturers in Uzbekistan and Central Asia, the EBRD said in a press release on Tuesday, 3 March 2009.

The financing will allow the company to purchase new lines for production of power cables, commodity copper wire, LAN cables and cables. It will also help Andijan Cable to strengthen and expand its market position in the Commonwealth of Independent States. Already today 75% of the company''s sales are made abroad, with Russia by far the largest recipient.

Cable production in Uzbekistan''s Andijan region started in the 1980s when under the Soviet Union a large factory was built which employed some 5,000 workers. After Uzbekistan''s independence the company was privatized in 2001 and is now majority-owned by the Russian company ОАО Farial.

After a comprehensive restructuring and modernisation programme Andijan Cable today produces a large variety of industrial cables for telecommunications, construction and energy, the automotive industry and grid from steel wire. In recent years telecommunications has become more and more important and today the company is the sole producer of LAN cables in Uzbekistan. The high quality standards of Andijan Cable have earned the company the coveted ISO 9000 certification from Germany''s TUV.

Fernand Pillonel, head of the EBRD office in Uzbekistan, said the Bank''s loan underlined the EBRD''s commitment to support the private sector in Uzbekistan. "The successful development of Andijan Cable demonstrates the impressive potential of Uzbekistan. We are especially pleased that our loan will support a company which is based outside the capital Tashkent and the other traditional focal points of investment and expect this to have a strong impact on the regional development in the east of Uzbekistan, where the company is based."