Machinery Central Asia 2026: Dates, Tickets & Venue (Tashkent)

Three days of automation on Amir Temur Avenue

Machinery Central Asia is a trade show. It is not a public fair. The 18th Central Asian International Exhibition on Intelligent Manufacturing, Automation and Industry 4.0 fills Uzexpocentre from November 10 to 12, 2026. Expect stands of machine tools, control systems and factory software, and people in suits swapping business cards over them.

The audience is mostly engineers, plant managers, procurement teams and distributors. Many come from Uzbekistan and the neighbouring Central Asian republics, with suppliers flying in from further afield. Eighteen editions in, the show is a fixture of the regional industrial calendar. It has outlasted plenty of trade events that came and went.

Dates, badges and getting through the door

The dates as announced are Tuesday 10 to Thursday 12 November 2026. That puts the show squarely in the working week, which suits a business crowd. Most visitors spread their meetings across the first two days and keep the last one for follow-ups.

Industrial exhibitions like this usually admit trade visitors through registration rather than a box-office ticket. You collect a printed badge at the entrance and wear it in the halls. The organiser’s official site carries the registration form, exhibitor list and any ticket details. Daily opening times appear there as well; this guide does not repeat them.

Some things visitors usually carry:

• Photo ID or a passport, because the registration desk may ask for it
• A stack of business cards, some printed in Russian
• A phone with mobile data for maps and taxi apps
• A light bag, since exhibitor brochures add up quickly

Getting to Uzexpocentre

Uzexpocentre is Tashkent’s national exhibition complex. It sits on Amir Temur Avenue, the wide road that runs north from Amir Temur Square towards Yunusabad. The Tashkent TV Tower is a short distance away. Its steel mast is the easiest landmark to spot from a taxi window.

The nearest metro stop is Bodomzor on the Yunusobod Line, the green line. From there it is a short walk along the avenue. The Tashkent metro is cheap and frequent. Its Soviet-era stations are famous for chandeliers, marble and mosaics, so the ride is worth taking for its own sake.

Most international attendees use taxis instead, ordered through the Yandex Go app. It shows the fare up front and avoids haggling. From Islam Karimov Tashkent International Airport the drive is usually under half an hour outside rush hour. Many travellers can enter Uzbekistan visa-free, and an e-visa covers most others; the official government portal lists which applies.

Working the halls in Tashkent

Business here runs on relationships and on language. Russian remains the working language of most industrial firms across Central Asia. Uzbek is spoken alongside it, and English is common at foreign stands but patchy elsewhere. Exhibitors who bring a Russian-speaking colleague or an interpreter usually get much further.

Greetings are formal. Men shake hands firmly and often place a hand on the heart. With women, it is polite to wait and see whether she offers her hand first. Tea gets poured during meetings. Accepting a cup and staying for a few minutes is part of how trust gets built.

On money: the currency is the Uzbek sum. Hotels and larger restaurants take international Visa and Mastercard. Smaller cafés and market stalls often prefer cash or local Uzcard and Humo cards. ATMs in hotel lobbies and malls dispense sum, and some dispense US dollars too.

Plov o’clock: the Besh Qozon lunch run

The TV Tower neighbourhood has a lunch ritual of its own. Close to the tower stands the Central Asian Plov Centre, known locally as Besh Qozon (“five cauldrons”). Here plov, Uzbekistan’s national rice dish, is cooked in enormous iron kazans over open fires. The rice is layered with carrots, onions, chickpeas and lamb, and served by the plateful.

Plov is a midday dish in Tashkent. It is traditionally eaten at lunch, and the big cauldrons tend to run out by mid-afternoon. That makes it a natural break between morning and afternoon meetings at Uzexpocentre. It is a quick taxi hop away.

At the table, the usual order is:

• Plov with a side of sliced horse-meat sausage (kazy) for those who want it
• Achichuk, a tomato and onion salad that cuts the richness
• Non, the round stamped bread, which you tear by hand and never place upside down
• Green tea, poured into small bowls and shared from the pot

Tashkent in mid-November

November is late autumn here. Days are usually cool and grey, with chilly evenings, and rain is possible. A proper jacket earns its place in the suitcase. The summer heat that dominates Tashkent’s reputation is long gone, and the city’s tree-lined boulevards are turning bare.

The evenings are free, and Tashkent fills them well. Chorsu Bazaar sits under its great turquoise dome in the old town, with spice, dried fruit and bread sellers in rows. Further south, Khast Imam complex holds the Uthman Quran, one of the oldest surviving Qur’an manuscripts. Both are a metro ride from the city centre.

Closer to the exhibition, Amir Temur Square and the pedestrian Sayilgoh Street (Broadway) are fine for a walk. So is the illuminated Minor Mosque beside the Ankhor canal. All three sit within easy taxi distance of Uzexpocentre. Together they make an easy evening after a day on your feet.

Where attendees tend to stay

Visitors usually split between two areas. The city centre around Amir Temur Square has the international chain hotels and the densest choice of restaurants. Yunusabad, the district around the exhibition grounds, is closer to the halls and has newer mid-range hotels.

Either works on the metro or by taxi. A three-day trade show in the same week as other business travel can tighten the hotel market, so exhibitors commonly reserve rooms well in advance. Those who add a day often take the high-speed Afrosiyob train to Samarkand, about two hours away.