Masdar last month won bids to build two solar power plants, each with a capacity of 220 MW, in the central Samarkand and Jizzakh regions.

Since the new government came to power, it has embarked on an ambitious economic reform plan. And that includes the long-ignored tourism sector.

The government fully or partially owns more than 2,500 companies, and 675 of them are under the liquidation process.

The property was confiscated from Ms Karimova, the eldest daughter of the former president, who ruled the country for 27 years until his death in 2016.

Uzbekistan, the world’s 8th largest cotton producer and the 11th largest exporter, produced 3.8 million tonnes of cotton in 2020 in over 1,3 million hectares of land.

The funds will be used to take urgent measures to fight coronavirus and reinforce the Central Asian nation’s health system.