PoorHebei farmer hits it big selling bricks in Uzbekistan

When Liu Zhaojun, a farmer-turned-businessman, was told about a brick maker in Uzbekistan looking for investors almost four years ago, he knew “absolutely nothing” about the country.

“I didn’t know where it was or how far it was from China,” Liu said. “I could not even pronounce itsnameproperly.”

In 2013, Liu was selling buildingmaterialsinPingxiang county, about 10 kilometers from his hometown in Hebei province. He did not know that the Belt and Road Initiative — the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st CenturyMaritime Silk Road — would involve farmers like him, but he decided to try his luck anyway.

Toward the end of 2013, he made his first visit toUzbekistan along with some business partners and saw immense potential. He invested in Keramik, a 28-million-yuan ($4 million) brickmaking plant covering 20 hectares in the suburbs of Tashkent the following year.

The plant, which began production in May, turns out 100,000 bricks every day. Producing bricks locally has cut costs for Uzbek building companies and created more than 30 jobs.

For three years, China has been Uzbekistan’s secondlargest trade partner and No 1 investor. According to the Ministry of Commerce, China’s nonfinancial direct foreign investment inUzbekistan totaled $510 million by the end of April last year.

“In recent years, freight train routes have linked different parts of China with Central Asia,” Liu said. These trains have cut transportation time and improved efficiency.

Until last summer, he had to arrange land transport to Zhengzhou, Henan province, where the freight was loaded onto trains that traveled through Northwest China to Tashkent. “The trip took about 20 days. But before freight trains, shipping time was at least 40 days.”

In July last year, a new freight route linked Tashkent with Xingtai, Hebei, and cut shipping time to eight days.

“It’s hard to imagine a poor man like me, who had trouble making ends meet 10 years ago, is now doing business overseas,” Liu said.

were created for local workers at Keramik, a brickmaking plant in Uzbekistan that Liu Zhaojun invested in.