
Continuing its international expansion drive, AD Ports Group is launching a joint venture with SEG, one of the largest oil and gas companies in Uzbekistan, to open new logistics and freight businesses. At a signing ceremony in Tashkent, the two companies signed several key agreements to support the collaboration, which aims to develop logistics infrastructure and services that will enable SEG’s refined products, and other Uzbek commodities, to reach global markets at competitive costs.
To support the agreements, AD Ports will be setting up an office in Uzbekistan, the Group’s first in the Central Asia region. This office will oversee the projects announced in Tashkent, which include the creation of a partnership for logistics and freight forwarding services, including intermodal freight forwarding, road, rail and air transport services; the development of inland ports and container depots, warehousing and other logistics infrastructure; and contract logistics and custom clearance services. Furthermore, the joint venture will deploy new technology and specialised processes to address the challenges caused by Uzbekistan’s double-landlocked geographical location, surrounded as it is by five additional landlocked nations.
In another recent initiative AD Ports and Hayat Biotech signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to support the latter’s global logistics and distribution through the Abu Dhabi group’s advanced pharmaceuticals logistics network, which includes its cold and ultra-cold pharma hub based in the KIZAD free zone.The initial element of the agreement covers the shipping of strategic construction supplies, including containers, machinery, raw materials, and equipment, to support the construction of Hayat Biotech’s global biopharmaceutical manufacturing facilities. Once fully completed, the facilities will produce a number of biopharmaceutical products, including the Hayat-Vax vaccine, the first indigenously produced Covid-19 vaccine in the UAE and the Arab world.
UAE-based company Hayat Biotech, a joint venture between Abu Dhabi’s G42 and Sinopharm CNBG, last year announced the development of a purpose-built research and development hub for life sciences, biotechnology and vaccine production. Set up in KIZAD, the facility will be capable of producing over 200 million vaccine doses annually.