AKIPRESS.COM - Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov is helping the new leader of his native Uzbekistan open up the ex-Soviet state to the outside world and will invest “as much as I can” in the Uzbek economy, he told Reuters in an interview .

The interview was the first time Usmanov, a metals magnate who is also part owner of Britain’s Arsenal soccer club, has publicly acknowledged working in partnership with Uzbekistan’s leaders.

Usmanov’s backing is likely to bolster President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, who is trying to re-make his country after a quarter century of repressive rule and Soviet-style economic policies but faces resistance from some domestic rivals.

“I am ready to help (Uzbekistan) in any way possible and I am already helping,” Usmanov told Reuters in a telephone interview. “My role today is advice, consulting, and charitable projects.”

Asked how much he was willing to invest in Uzbekistan, he said: “As much as I can.”

He did not give further details about investments, though he said that ties were being strengthened between the Russian holding company, USM, in which he holds a 49 percent stake, and metal plants in Uzbekistan. He did not provide details on the current status of those ties.

Usmanov, 64, is Russia’s fifth richest businessman; the Russian edition of Forbes magazine estimates his wealth at $15.2 billion (£11.3 billion). That is equivalent to about a fifth of Uzbek gross domestic product.

Usmanov was born in Uzbekistan but moved to Russia as a young man. His portfolio of assets includes a half of Russia’s biggest iron producer, Metalloinvest, and telecoms and internet assets.

Mainly Muslim Uzbekistan was run from its independence in 1991 until 2016 by former president Islam Karimov, who mistrusted both Russia and the West, kept a tight grip on the economy, and stifled dissent.

When he died last September, Karimov was succeeded by Mirziyoyev, the longtime prime minister. Mirziyoyev has conducted a number of economic reforms, scrapping capital controls and improved fraught relations with other states.