Tag Archives: Uzbekistan

Dollars fuel Uzbekistan’s black market

TASHKENT/Uzbekistan, JUNE 10 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — The black market currency traders in Taskhent’s bazaars are hardly inconspicuous.

“Dollars, dollars. Russian roubles,” they say.

Huge wads of cash change hands as people exchange dollars for Uzbek sums. The black market currency trade in Uzbekistan is big business and well established.

With the largest note worth a mere 1,000 sum (roughly 50 cents), the piles of money can be hefty. The trade is visible, but the police in Tashkent’s bazaars don’t step in; they’re taking a cut.

This currency black market has traditionally offered better rates than the banks. Exchanging $1,000 legally will give you about 2 billion sum, while on the black market you’ll receive around 2.7 billion sum.

Since February, the Uzbek government has banned people from buying cash dollars legally at all. Those needing hard currency must deposit money on debit cards which they can only use abroad.

When this ban on buying dollars came into force it sparked wild black market rate fluctuations and speculation that the government was out to smash this lucrative illegal trade. Such talk was short-lived, however, and the shadowy forces controlling the black market made a fortune on the exchange rate fluctuations.

ENDS
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(News report from Issue No. 138, published on June 10 2013)

MTS sells its assets in Uzbekistan

JUNE 3 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Uzbek government announced that Russian mobile operator MTS was selling its assets in Uzbekistan for roughly $300m, media reported. Last year the Uzbek government accused MTS’s local subsidiary Uzdunrobita of tax dodging and suspended its operations. MTS said the allegations were false.

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(News report from Issue No. 138, published on June 10 2013)

IDB grants $270m to Uzbekistan

MAY 28 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Jeddah-based Islamic Development Bank (IDB) agreed to give Uzbekistan a $270m grant to buy two new Boeing airplanes for its national airline and to modernise its hydro-electric stations. The IDB, a multinational institution, has been one of Uzbekistan’s biggest donors in recent years.

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(News report from Issue No. 137, published on June 3 2013)

NATO opens an office in Uzbekistan

MAY 28 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Over the past couple of years, NATO has slowly been building relations with Uzbekistan. The Western military alliance needs Uzbekistan’s help to pull kit and equipment out of neighbouring Afghanistan.

Deals have been made ahead of the military pull-out, scheduled for 2013 and 2014, and promises of friendships pledged.

Now NATO plans to open an office in Tashkent, media reported. NATO said the move was planned as part of a rotational policy and the office was simply moving from Astana to Tashkent. Maybe, but the timing is also good for NATO. They have to coordinate pulling out hundreds of military vehicles across Uzbekistan to Russia over the next couple of years. They also have to work out what kit to leave behind in Uzbekistan.

Dealing with Uzbekistan is tricky. It was only a few years ago, when the West didnít need its support for their war in Afghanistan, that Uzbekistan was considered a pariah state with a distasteful human rights record.

Eurasianet quoted a NATO spokesperson as saying that the office in Tashkent would open up in either June or July and that it would have diplomatic status.

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(News report from Issue No. 137, published on June 3 2013)

TeliaSonera under investigation over Uzbek corruption

MAY 22 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Swedish TV aired fresh documents appearing to show more evidence that telecoms giant TeliaSonera paid Gulnara Karimova, the all-powerful eldest daughter of Uzbek President Islam Karimov, to win a 3G licence in Uzbekistan. TeliaSonera is the subject of a Swedish investigation into corruption allegations.

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(News report from Issue No. 136, published on May 27 2013)

US police arrest alleged Uzbek extremist

MAY 16 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Police in the US arrested an Uzbek man on suspicion of links to Islamic extremists, barely a month after two ethnic Chechen brothers, who were brought up in Kyrgyzstan, allegedly bombed the Boston marathon. The new arrest appears unrelated to the Boston bombs but will again draw Central Asia into the spotlight.

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(News report from Issue No. 135, published on May 20 2013)

Uzbekistan releases prisoners

APRIL 30 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) – Uzbekistan released five political prisoners last year, the US reported. Human rights groups often criticise Uzbekistan, much to the embarrassment of the US and other Western countries which have made deals with the Uzbek government in return for help shifting military equipment out of Afghanistan.

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(News report from Issue No. 134, published on May 6 2013)

Opposition figure released in Uzbekistan

APRIL 23 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Uzbek authorities unexpectedly released opposition activist Mamadali Makhmudov from prison ahead of a visit by a senior US official, media reported. Mr Makhmudov, 72, was imprisoned in August 1999 for attempting to overthrow the government. Uzbekistan has one of the world’s worst human rights records.

(News report from Issue No. 133, published on April 29 2013)

The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation and Turkey

APRIL 26 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Turkey signed up to become a so-called dialogue partner of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), a group led by China and Russia that includes Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

Belarus and Sri Lanka already hold the same status with the SCO but Turkey is a NATO member and that makes its partnership more important. Analysts have often described the SCO as a potential Chinese and Russian-led military rival to NATO.

This analysis of the SCO, though, is too simplistic. The SCO is more than just a security group. It is also a financing organisation and a forum for inter-governmental conversation and debate.

Turkey, too, has deep economic, historical, cultural and linguistic ties with Central Asia, the focus of the SCO’s activities. Turkish senior governments ministers often visit the Central Asia capitals and it is only natural that Turkey should look to become a member in the region’s main security grouping.

Turkey’s interest in the SCO and its promotion as a dialogue partner should be welcomed by all, including NATO.

(News report from Issue No. 133, published on April 29 2013)

Carlsberg brewery restarts in Uzbekistan

APRIL 19 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Carlsberg’s Uzbek subsidiary in Tashkent, UzCarlsberg, re-started beer production after a year’s break, local media reported. The Uzbek authorities had accused the UzCarlsberg of dodging taxes of nearly $5m. Foreign investors in Uzbekistan have previously accused the authorities of harassment.

(News report from Issue No. 132, published on April 22 2013)