Tag Archives: Uzbekistan

Hyatt to open in Uzbekistan

OCT. 5 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Hyatt Hotels will build a new luxury hotel in Tashkent funded partly by the Uzbek government, local media reported. Uzbekistan’s state- owned Xalq Banki has said it will provide a 100b sum (officially $38m, but quoted at $20.5m in the black market) loan for the deal, around 10% of the total cost of the project. This will be the first Hyatt hotel in Uzbekistan.

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(News report from Issue No. 251, published on Oct. 9 2015)

Uzbek migration to RU falls

OCT. 6 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Data from the Russian Migration Service showed a 17% fall in Uzbek migration into Russia during the first 9 months of 2015 compared to the same period last year. The economic downturn in Russia and the fall in the rouble-dollar exchange rate have discouraged Uzbek workers from travelling to Russia for jobs.

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(News report from Issue No. 251, published on Oct. 9 2015)

Uzbekistan places general under house arrest

OCT. 6 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The authorities in Uzbekistan have placed a senior general under house arrest after allegations of corruption were levied against him by Gulnara Karimova, the eldest daughter of Uzbek president Islam Karimov, media reported.

If Ms Karimova is the source of the allegations it shows that she may still hold influence in Uzbekistan where she has been held under house arrest since March 2014.

The story also shows just how deep the extent of corruption in Uzbekistan is.

The interned general is Hayot Sharifhojayev, who oversaw the corruption investigation into Ms Karimova and her associates, giving her plenty of motive for revenge.

According to a report published by the US-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Gen. Sharifhojayev was arrested in July and has now been placed under house arrest.

The report said that he had been caught trying to sell assets which he had confiscated from Ms Karimova, although it didn’t specify what exactly he was trying to sell.

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(News report from Issue No. 251, published on Oct. 9 2015)

Chinese cement to expand in Tajikistan and Uzbekistan

SEPT. 29 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Shangfeng Cement, a Chinese cement producer, aims to raise 1.5b yuan ($235m) to fuel its expansion into Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. The two projects Shangfeng plans in Central Asia both have a capacity to produce 3,200 tonnes of cement per day and will cost around $130m. Shangfeng plans to sell its cement in Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and northern Afghanistan.

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(News report from Issue No. 250, published on Oct. 2 2015)

Uzbekistan boosts cotton appeal

OCT. 1 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Looking to boost the popular appeal of picking cotton, the authorities in Uzbekistan pulled in an actor and a singer for a photo op of them working in fields, the US-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported. Uzbekistan’s cotton picking programme has drawn criticism from human rights groups.

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(News report from Issue No. 250, published on Oct. 2 2015)

Attacker targets US embassy in Uzbekistan

SEPT. 28 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The US embassy in Tashkent said that an unidentified man threw two homemade grenades over the wall of the compound.

One of the grenades exploded but didn’t injure anybody, the embassy said in a statement. No group has claimed responsibility. The embassy closed immediately after the attack although it reopened the following day.

“At approximately 7:30 am on Monday, September 28 an unidenti- fied assailant tossed two improvised incendiary devices onto embassy grounds,” the embassy said in a state- ment.

“One of the incendiary devices exploded. Immediately following the explosion the embassy went on lock- down. No one was injured in the blast.”

The attack will be a major concern for the US. Governments in Central Asia have spoken of the increased threat from radical Islam, although some of the evidence has been dis- puted. It’s still unclear if this attack was linked to radical Islam or to something else but it would have been unsettling.

In 2004, car bombs targeted both the US and Israeli embassies. Two security guards were killed outside the Israeli embassy.

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(News report from Issue No. 250, published on Oct. 2 2015)

Chinese company starts construction in Uzbekistan

SEPT. 29 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Chinese manufacturer Poly Technologies said that it had started construction at a new rubber plant in Uzbekistan. During the ceremony at the Angren Special Industrial Zone, Gulomjon Ibragimov, Uzbekistan’s deputy PM said the project would improve rubber production capacity in the country.

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(News report from Issue No. 250, published on Oct. 2 2015)

Uzbekistan sends uranium to Russia

SEPT. 28 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said a batch of highly enriched uranium had been flown out of Uzbekistan to a site in Russia. The IAEA oversaw the project to remove the highly enriched uranium from a Tashkent research lab.

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(News report from Issue No. 250, published on Oct. 2 2015)

Uzbek corruption probe undermines TeliaSonera

SEPT. 25 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – TeliaSonera last week sounded its retreat from Central Asia after trying to fight back against allegations of corruption and bribery made against its companies in the region over the past three years.

It’s a humbling moment for Telia- Sonera, the Stockholm-based mobile operator, that once had ambitions to dominate the South Caucasus and Central Asia region.

The company which has most undermined TeliaSonera’s reputation and made its position untenable was Ucell, its Uzbek subsidiary.

Prosecutors across Europe and in the US have launched investigations into alleged bribes of up to $325m that TeliaSoneria may have paid a Gibraltar-based company in 2007 and 2008

to access the Uzbek mobile phone market. The Gibraltar company was called Takilant and was closely linked to Gulnara Karimova, the eldest daughter of Uzbek President Islam Karimov.

And if the allegations have been TeliaSonera’s undoing, they have also undermined Ms Karimova,

Once touted as a near-certain to replace her father, she is now under house arrest in Tashkent. Most of her allies are in jail and her assets in Europe have been seized.

When TeliaSonera does finally offload its Uzbek subsidiary it will have left an indelible mark on Uzbekistan’s history — in the mobile phone market, in corporate governance and in politics.

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(News report from Issue No. 249, published on Sept. 25 2015)

Work progresses on Uzbek rail

SEPT. 24 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Work has nearly finished on an electric train line linking Tashkent with the Ferghana Valley in eastern Uzbekistan, media reported. The importance of the railway line is that it will cut out Tajikistan through which the previous Soviet-era line had to cross.

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(News report from Issue No. 249, published on Sept. 25 2015)