AUG. 15 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – NATO withdrawal from Afghanistan could allow militant Islam to spread into Central Asia, Russian media quoted Nikolai Bordyuzha, secretary-general of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) as saying at a meeting in Astana. The CSTO is a loose security group of Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan
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(News report from Issue No. 53, published on Aug. 17 2011)
AUG. 15 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – Uzbekistan blocked access to a number of western news websites during the London riots apparently to stop the images from reaching its own people. Russian media quoted Uzbek president Islam Karimov saying the websites were blocked to protect the country’s youth from “negative Western influences”.
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(News report from Issue No. 53, published on Aug. 17 2011)
AUG. 10 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – Uzbekistan’s GDP grew by 8% in the first half of the year compared to the same period in 2010, Reuters quoted state media as saying. The report also said inflation had grown by 3.6% between Jan. and June. Uzbekistan operates a relatively closed economy.
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(News report from Issue No. 52, published on Aug. 10 2011)
AUG. 9 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – The authorities in Uzbekistan have deported eight suspected Christian missionaries, AFP news agency quoted a state website as saying. According to the report, the missionaries were all US citizens but spoke fluent Uzbek and posed as businessmen with Uzbek names. The US embassy in Tashkent declined to comment.
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(News report from Issue No. 52, published on Aug. 10 2011)
JULY 23 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – Uzbekistan Railway took delivery of a Spanish- made high speed train that will travel the 344km between the capital Tashkent and Samarkand in two hours, it said in a statement. Uzbekistan ordered two trains from Spanish manufacturer Patentes Talgo in Jan. 2010 reportedly for 38m euros.
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(News report from Issue No. 50, published on July 27 2011)
JULY 18 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – Bucking most foreign investors’ opinion that doing business in Uzbekistan is difficult, US carmaker GM’s joint venture with the Uzbek government has increased production. Russian news agency Interfax quoted the Uzbek State Statistics Committee saying production at GM Uzbekistan, in which GM owns 25%, rose by 4.2% in the first half of 2011 compared to 2010.
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(News report from Issue No. 49, published on July 20 2011)
JULY 20 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – An earthquake struck the densely populated Ferghana Valley and killed at least 13 people, local media quoted Uzbekistan’s Emergencies Ministry as saying. The US Geological Survey said the earthquake measured 6.1 on the Richter scale and was a relatively shallow 18km below the surface.
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(News report from Issue No. 49, published on July 20 2011)
JULY 11 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – Central Asian countries need to improve cooperation along the Amu Darya, the region’s longest river, to avoid future conflicts over water supply, the United Nations Environmental Programme said in a new report. Overuse and climate change have diminished the river which mainly irrigates Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Afghanistan.
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(News report from Issue No. 48, published on July 12 2011)
JULY 5 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – In France, at least, it appears acceptable to describe Uzbek President Islam Karimov as a dictator. A court in France threw out a libel case brought by his youngest daughter Lola Karimova-Tillyaeva against the news website rue89.com who described her as “a dictator’s daughter”. She said this was an unfair slight. The judge said it was accurate.
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(News report from Issue No. 47, published on July 6 2011)
JUNE 30 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – Miner Oxus gold quit London’s AIM stock market after it failed to file financial results for 2010, required under the market’s rules. Formerly one of Uzbekistan’s most high profile foreign investors, Oxus Gold is locked in an increasingly acrimonious dispute with the Uzbek government over ownership of the Amantaytau gold field.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 47, published on July 6 2011)