OPEN THE BORDERS:

Hit by regular power cuts and with popular sites like Twitter and TikTok blocked, the Central Asian nation of Uzbekistan hardly seems a likely candidate for a tech boom.

But with Russia's invasion of Ukraine driving an exodus of IT specialists to former parts of the Soviet Union, authorities in Uzbekistan are hoping to speed up plans to modernise an economy best known for its vast production of cotton.

It took only one day after Russia's February 24 invasion of Ukraine for Uzbekistan to launch a one-stop government relocation programme for IT specialists and companies.

Offering visas, housing and child care support to individuals, and registration assistance and tax exemptions to companies, the programme has already attracted some 2,000 foreign IT specialists, the government said.

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