Tag Archives: Uzbekistan

Editorial: The SCO

JULY 1 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) will expand next year to include Pakistan and India. Since its inception in Shanghai in 2001, the SCO has been led by China and Russia. It was formed to extend their influence over their shared near-abroad — Central Asia. SCO members include all the Central Asian states other than Turkmenistan.

Western analysts have previously referred to it as Russia and China’s version of NATO, mainly because of the very visible war games that it stages each year. But this is only one component of the SCO. More important, but less visible are the various social and economic projects conducted through the SCO apparatus. These have mainly involved China. Indeed it has given China a major footprint in the region and helped to extend its influence.

By opening up the SCO to Pakistan and India, the SCO is potentially changing its remit from a regional, Central Asia focused group to a far wider organisation that takes in the two most populous countries in the world. It may become less useful as an organisation to develop Central Asia and more useful as group for larger countries to discuss their problems.

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(Editorial from Issue No. 287, published on July 1 2016)

SCO leaders gather in Uzbekistan for summit

JUNE 23 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – The presidents of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan gathered in Tashkent to kick-start the summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), together with their colleagues from Russia and China and Uzbek host, President Islam Karimov. The members are set to vote on June 24 to begin the membership process for India and Pakistan, currently observer countries.

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(News report from Issue No. 286, published on June 24 2016)

Chinese payments system expands in Uzbekistan

JUNE 21 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – UnionPay International, the global branch of Chinese bank organisation UnionPay, said it will expand its operations in Uzbekistan, through an agreement with UzCard, an interbank payment system. The company, which operates in all Central Asian countries except Turkmenistan, is looking to expand its coverage at ATMs and card payments across the region.

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(News report from Issue No. 286, published on June 24 2016)

Business comment: BREXIT, Oil & Crisis

JUNE 24 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – As the results of the referendum on Britain’s EU membership came in early on Friday, the decision to leave the EU has shaken the global market.

The Leave vote has hit the London stock market, where most of the companies focusing on Central Asia and the South Caucasus are listed. Economists now expect more volatility in the short term for the London Stock Exchange.

The so-called Brexit also negatively affected oil prices, sending both Brent and WTI down by 6% in just a few hours. Analysts have said that the period of uncertainty regarding oil prices will now last longer.

Currency markets were also hit, as the British pound lost value against the US dollar, effectively strengthening the greenback.

This had an immediate domino effect on currencies across Central Asia and the South Caucasus, where local currencies weakened against the US dollar.

The increasing uncertainty and volatility is now poised to harm, at least in the short term, local markets in the region, prompting elites in from Tbilisi to Astana to brace for more tough times. It will also hit global markets in general, forcing investors to flee to safety and this means missing out Central Asia and the South Caucasus.

Now both the Fed in the US and the Bank of England will have to revise their economic policies and this is likely to insulate further their economies and pull investment back from Emerging Markets.

In these uncertain times, countries in Central Asia and the South Caucasus cannot but hope that Western investors will go against the tide and continue investing in the region.

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(News report from Issue No. 286, published on June 24 2016)

UMS boosts 4G in Uzbekistan

JUNE 21 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – UMS, a mobile company jointly owned by the Uzbek government and Russia’s MTS, said it had launched 4G services in Tashkent, upgrading the capital city’s data connectivity. Competitors Ucell, part-owned by Telia Company, and Beeline, a subsidiary of Russia’s Vimpelcom, have already launched 4G services.

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(News report from Issue No. 286, published on June 24 2016)

Uzbekistan to launch tunnel

JUNE 20 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – The Uzbek government said it will launch the Angren-Pap railway service from July, opening the longest tunnel in Central Asia. The project, completed in the past few months, cost $1.6b and was partly funded by Chinese and World Bank loans. Uzbek President Islam Karimov and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping inaugurated the new tunnel during a ceremony in Tashkent.

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(News report from Issue No. 286, published on June 24 2016)

GM- Uzbekistan woes worsen

JUNE 23 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Rustam Radjabov, the new director of the GM-Uzbekistan joint venture, was detained by police and held in jail since the end of May on embezzlement charges, RFE/RL reported quoting sources in the company. Mr Radjabov replaced Tokhirjon Jalilov who was arrested in April for masterminding a criminal scheme over car exports to Russia. The Uzbek authorities have not confirmed the arrest. The anonymous source also said operations at the GM Uzbekistan plant are “practically suspended.” GM Uzbekistan is one of the country’s most important factories.

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(News report from Issue No. 286, published on June 24 2016)

Uzbekistan closes borders for SCO summit

JUNE 15 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – The Uzbek government ordered the closure of land borders for ten days to try to insulate the country from potential Islamic militant attacks ahead of a meeting of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) heads of states, scheduled for next week.

Leaders from Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan will join Uzbek President Islam Karimov at the annual SCO summit in Tashkent on June 23/24.

Uzbekistan has emphasised its efforts in combating terrorism, one of the pillars of the SCO, and wants to demonstrate its ability to become a safe haven of peace in Central Asia.

Analysts said that closing its border crossing checkpoints is a way of demonstrating control over its territory and its capacity to fence off potential terrorists from abroad.

The authorities dismissed earlier rumours that Tashkent would be closed off during the summit.

“There will be enhanced security checks, but the city will operate in normal mode,” the Uzbek ministry of interior said in a statement.

In the weeks leading up to the summit, the Tashkent city administration ordered a clean-up of the capital. Reports said that hundreds of satellite dishes were removed from houses on Prospekt Kosmonavtov,a main road in Tashkent which runs down to Mr Karimov’s official residence.

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(News report from Issue No. 285, published on June 17 2016)

US court to seize Uzbek President’s daughter’s accounts

JUNE 12 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – A US court said that it is ready to seize assets linked to Gulnara Karimova, daughter of Uzbekistan’s President Islam Karimov, in Ireland, Belgium and Luxembourg, if a corruption case in New York courts is not resolved soon. US authorities said these assets are valued €269m ($303m). In February, Ms Karimova was named as the beneficiary of bribes paid by telecoms companies seeking licences in Uzbekistan, the largest foreign corruption probe in US history.

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(News report from Issue No. 285, published on June 17 2016)

EgyptAir bomb threat plane diverts to Uzbekistan

JUNE 8 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — An EgyptAir passenger plane flying to Beijing from Cairo diverted to Urgench airport in western Uzbekistan after Egyptian authorities received information that a bomb had been planted on the plane. The plane was evacuated and searched before being allowed to fly on to China after the Uzbek authorities gave the all-clear.

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(News report from Issue No. 284, published on June 10 2016)