The “New Uzbekistan” championed in over six years of reforms by President Shavkat Mirziyoyev has manifested itself with manifold possibilities.

The public and private sectors have come together, and our ambitious but achievable energy goals are core to the country’s transformation.

Uzbekistan’s 34 million population is rising fast, as is our economy and our citizens’ income, which leads to more energy demand. In effect, we face the challenge of powering ourselves while radically renovating our energy sector to match the requirements of a modern, green economy.

A financially sustainable economy needs to be an environmentally sustainable economy. We owe our future generations the best possible opportunities to thrive and survive.

Therefore, we have challenged ourselves to generate 8 GW of solar and wind power by 2026 and 12 GW of renewables capacity by 2030. We have upgraded these targets more than once in the last couple of years — such is our commitment and progress.

This ambition inevitably requires best-in-class assistance in the form of capital, know-how and technology.

As a country synonymous with intellect, progressive thinking and energy leadership that has crafted its economic diversification, Saudi Arabia plays a vital role in our momentum toward our ambitious renewable energy goals.

One of Saudi Arabia’s leading developers, investors and operators of power generation and water desalination plants globally, ACWA Power is already building three energy projects in Uzbekistan: Two wind farms with a capacity of 500 MW each, a 100 MW wind power plant in Karakalpakstan, and a thermal plant with a capacity of 1,500 MW to be commissioned in the fourth quarter of 2023.

President Mirziyoyev’s recent state visit to Saudi Arabia led to more treaties, the most significant cooperation to date between the Kingdom’s private and state energy actors and Uzbekistan.

The agreements will see ACWA Power develop the largest onshore wind farm in the world — a 1.5 GW facility in Uzbekistan’s Karakalpakstan region.

This project alone will offset 2.4 million tons of carbon emissions yearly, achieving almost a fifth of our commitment to the 2021 UN climate conference in Glasgow and powering 1.65 million Uzbek households.

A second agreement for investment cooperation will see ACWA Power and Uzbekistan collaborate to develop $10 billion worth of gas-to-power, wind, hydroelectric, green hydrogen and localization projects starting in 2023.

This agreement makes Uzbekistan the second-largest country for ACWA Power in terms of overall investment.

A third agreement builds on an open framework agreement signed during a Saudi delegation visit to Uzbekistan in 2021 and commits ACWA Power and Uzbekistan with Air Products, an American chemical major listed on the New York Stock Exchange, to plan investment in green hydrogen production, an energy resource with enormous potential in the industrial sector.

For Uzbekistan to move from an absence of renewable energy sources to pioneer innovative green solutions in only a few years, it is a matter of dedicated labor and friendship with our partners here in the Kingdom.

Uzbekistan’s connection with the Middle East, a cultural and economic affinity based on trust and friendship, has grown over recent years.

Our cooperation with the Kingdom in the energy sector has visibly improved the lives of millions of Uzbek citizens and has created future-proof green economy jobs.

We are proud of what we are achieving together and, in the light of our ground-breaking new agreements, are confident the relationship between our two countries will reach new heights in the years to come.

For both Saudi Arabia and Uzbekistan, this is a great beginning.

• Azim Akhmedkhadjayev is first deputy minister of energy of Uzbekistan.