Tag Archives: Uzbekistan

Lukoil ups Ubekistan’s production

DEC. 1 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Russian oil company Lukoil said it increased both investment and production in Uzbekistan’s gas sector in the first nine months of 2015. Investment grew by 38% to $759m, compared to last year. Production rose to 4.7b cubic metres, up 26% from around 3.7b cubic metres last year. Lukoil is one of Uzbekistan’s biggest investors. Uzbekistan has said it wants to increase its gas production.

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(News report from Issue No. 259, published on Dec. 4 2015)

Uzbekistan boosts solar sector

DEC. 3 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The Uzbek government has signed a decree that will allow people and small businesses to sell electricity they generate via solar panels to the state for the first time, media reported.

Potentially this edict is a small scale way of giving private entrepre- neurship a boost. As the website norma.uz reported earlier this year, there are a number of small businesses producing solar power electricity in Uzbekistan.

With its long, hot, cloudless summers, Uzbekistan is ripe for solar power.

Earlier this year, Uzbekistan launched a $700m project to build three solar panel farms to generate electricity.

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(News report from Issue No. 259, published on Dec. 4 2015)

Sweden starts Uzbek murder trial

NOV. 23 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – A trial has started in Sweden of a man accused of attempting to murder Obidkhon Qori Nazarov, an Uzbek dissident, in 2012. Yury Zhukovsky is accused of shooting Mr Nazarov twice in the head outside his apartment. In an interview with Eurasianet, the Swedish prosecutor said that he thought Mr Zhukovsky was linked to the Uzbek authorities. Mr Nazarov had fled Uzbekistan in 2006 after the Uzbek authorities accused him of trying to plot a coup.

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(News report from Issue No. 258, published on Nov. 27 2015)

Uzbekistan reduces child cotton pickers

NOV. 20 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – A report by the UN’s International Labour Office (ILO) said the use of child labour to pick cotton in Uzbekistan has reduced although it hasn’t been totally eradicated.

The ILO’s findings are important because Uzbekistan has come under growing criticism for its use of children, medical staff and teachers for picking cotton. Cotton is one of Uzbekistan’s biggest exports, although many Western companies have stopped buying Uzbek cotton.

“The use of children in the cotton harvest has become rare and sporadic,” the ILO said in its report. “Authorities have taken a range of measures to reduce the incidence of child labour and make it socially unacceptable.”

It said that a campaign to stop teachers and medics being used to pick cotton has been less successful.

Activists rank Uzbekistan as one of the worst countries in the world for upholding human rights.

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(News report from Issue No. 258, published on Nov. 27 2015)

VimpelCom close to deal due to Uzbek bribery

NOV. 25 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Russian telecoms company VimpelCom could be close to a $775m settlement with a US court that accused it of paying bribes to access mobile licences in Uzbekistan, Bloomberg reported. Earlier in November, the company set aside $900m for settlement costs. VimpelCom representatives declined to comment.

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(News report from Issue No. 258, published on Nov. 27 2015)

Uzbek authorities look power upgrade plan

NOV. 23 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Looking to boost power production to meet rising demand, the Uzbek authorities unveiled a $900m upgrade programme for its hydropower stations. As populations increase and living standards rise, demand for power has risen across Central Asia and the South Caucasus pressuring the authorities into investing in their power generation infrastructure. Earlier this month the Uzbek government announced a privatisation plan that included one of its cement makers.

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(News report from Issue No. 258, published on Nov. 27 2015)

Uzbekistan increases cement production

NOV. 24 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Uzbekistan has increased its cement production by 7% so far this year, media reported quoting industry executives (Nov. 24). They also said that they plan to add more capacity to their production. Uzbekistan is a net exporter of cement. It has become big business and is a major employer.

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(News report from Issue No. 258, published on Nov. 27 2015)

Currencies: Kyrgyzstan’s som, Georgia’s lari

NOV. 27 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — The only currency that moved substantially this week was the Kyrgyz som, which lost 2.3%, closing at 74/$1 on Friday.

The Kyrgyz Central Bank intervened heavily this week to prop up its currency, which looked like it was losing traction and could have spiralled downwards. During the day on Nov. 26, the exchange rate had surged to 77-79 som/dollar, which prompted the Central Bank to sell $7m in the currency market and enabled the currency to recover somewhat and move back to 74/$1.

Tolkunbek Abdygulov, the Central Bank chief, said this week the exchange rate was influenced by speculators.

All other currencies were stable.

In the South Caucasus, the Georgian lari maintained its level of 2.40/$1 and the Armenian dram was also stable at 480.8/$1.

In Central Asia, the Kazakh tenge floated at around 307/$1 throughout

the week. The Tajik somoni continued its gentle depreciation, and now trades at 6.7/$1.

The dollaruz.com website which monitored the Black Market rate for the Uzbek sum, appears to have closed.

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(News report from Issue No. 258, published on Nov. 27 2015)

Turkcell moves to buy mobile companies from TeliaSonera in Uzbekistan and Tajikistan

NOV. 18 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Turkcell, Turkey’s biggest mobile service provider, is planning on buying TeliaSonera’s assets in Central Asia and the South Caucasus, Bloomberg News reported by quoting a source close to the company.

The source said that Turkcell had appointed HSBC and Citigroup to advise it on its potential bid to buy the stake in Fintur from TeliaSonera that it doesn’t already own.

Turkcell owns 41.45% of Rotterdam-based Fintur; TeliaSonera owns the rest. Fintur runs brands in Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Moldova with 18m users.

Turkcell CEO, Kaan Terzioglu, appeared to confirm the company’s intention to buy TeliaSonera’s stake in Fintur. Answering journalists’ questions in Istanbul on when a deal would be finished, he said: “in 2016 if all the negotiations go well.”

The deal is important because it moves TeliaSonera towards its stated aim of selling its companies in Central Asia and the South Caucasus. It also owns businesses in Uzbekistan and Tajikistan which it wants to find a buyer for.

Earlier this year, it said that it wanted to sell up after investigations began into a corruption scandal at its Uzbek company. It is alleged to have paid Gulnara Karimova, the eldest daughter of Uzbek president Islam Karimov, millions of dollars in bribes to gain access to the Uzbek mobile market in 2007/8.

Telenor, its Norwegian rival, is also investigating alleged corruption at its Uzbek subsidiary. It owns a 33% stake in Russia-based Vimpelcom which owns a company in Uzbekistan that also, allegedly paid a bribe to enter the market.

Turkcell is Turkey’s main mobile operator. Its shareholder structure has been argued over since 2011. It has shares listed on the New York and Istanbul stock exchanges but its institutional shareholders include Turkey’s Cukurova Holding, Russia’s AlfaGroup and TeliaSonera.

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(News report from Issue No. 257, published on Nov. 20 2015)

Uzbekistan detains rights activist

NOV. 16 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Uzbek opposition media reported that police detained Uktam Paradayev, a well-respected human rights activist. It is unclear if Mr Paradayev has been charged with anything. Earlier this month Mr Paradayev was denied an exit visa to leave Uzbekistan.

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(News report from Issue No. 257, published on Nov. 20 2015)