Tag Archives: Uzbekistan

Remittance data to Uzbekistan shows drop

MARCH 10 2015 (The Bulletin) – Remittances to Uzbekistan from Russia dropped by 10% in 2014, media reported quoting a survey by the Russian analytical agency TMT and the CONTACT money transfer system.

While these figures are not official, they do add credence to the picture of tumbling economies in Central Asia and the South Caucasus because of a faltering Russian economy.

Importantly, reports said that analysts expected remittances from Russia to fall by around 25% this year. This will affect most Central Asian and South Caucasus countries, especially Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan which rely heavily on the flow of cash from Russia.

Proportionally, remittances make up a smaller proportion of the national income in Uzbekistan. In practice, though, it is a vital economic lifeline for many ordinary people.
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(News report from Issue No. 222, published on March 11 2015)

TV host murdered in Uzbekistan

MARCH 2 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Popular Uzbek TV host, Rakhmatilla Mirzayev, has been stabbed to death, Uzbek media reported. Media did not give a motive for the murder of Mirzayev who was 60-years-old and had worked for Uzbek TV for 40 years. His death, though, will once again place Uzbekistan’s rule-of-law under scrutiny.
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(News report from Issue No. 221, published on March 4 2015)

Germany-Uzbekistan trade deal

MARCH 3 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – On a trip to Berlin, Uzbek officials agreed business deals worth $2.8b, Uzbekistan’s trade ministry said. The statement said most of the deals were related to various infrastructure projects. Relations between Germany and Uzbekistan are relatively close. Germany maintains a military base in south Uzbekistan.
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(News report from Issue No. 221, published on March 4 2015)

Tashkent limits internet cafe access

FEB. 25 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The authorities in Tashkent have started to enforce restrictions which limit access to the internet cafes that line the streets of the capital.
Under the new rules, internet cafes have to close by 9pm and minors are banned from them during school hours.

Internet cafes are important in Uzbekistan where the media is predominantly state-controlled and home internet access is severely limited.

The authorities say they want to protect Uzbekistan’s youth from the seedier side of the internet as well as from recruitment videos from the radical group IS. Human rights groups say the real reason is to block free media.
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(News report from Issue No. 221, published on March 4 2015)

Uzbekistan wants to export cars to Azerbaijan

MARCH 2 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Uzbekistan’s deputy PM, Ulugbek Rozukulov, met with the Azerbaijani economy minister, Shahin Mustafayev to discuss increased cooperation and specifically whether Azerbaijan will be able to buy cars that had been built for the Russia market before the collapse of the rouble and the economic crisis.
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(News report from Issue No. 221, published on March 4 2015)

Uzbekistan blocks rights activist

FEB. 18 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Two Uzbek human rights campaigners said they had been prevented from leaving Uzbekistan to pick up awards in South Korea. Shukhrat Rustamov and Elena Urlaeva said they had been denied exit visas to receive the Tji Haksoon Peace Award on March 11. Uzbek citizens need to apply for an exit visa to leave the country.
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(News report from Issue No. 220, published on Feb. 25 2015)

Lithuania dairy exporters use Uzbekistan to skirt round Russia sanctions

MARCH 19 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Forced to look for alternative markets because of sanctions on Russia and war in Ukraine, Uzbekistan has become a major target for Lithuania’s dairy exports.

In December, dairy exports from Lithuania to Uzbekistan recorded a 19-fold increase compared to the same month in 2013, according to Russia’s Soyuzmoloko, a milk industry group.

Uzbekistan now represents over 12% of the Lithuanian dairy export market, becoming a key target for Lithuanian cheese and butter. Only Poland and Italy now import more dairy products from Lithuania.

Soyuzmoloko said there may be an alternative motive for sending products to Uzbekistan.
“Dairy products exported from Lithuania to Uzbekistan are then sent from Uzbekistan to Russia directly or via Kazakhstan, which is part of the Customs Union,” the Soyuzmoloko said in a note on its website.

The reference to the Customs Union is to an old Kremlin-led economic group. It is now called the Eurasian Economic Union.

While relations between Uzbekistan and the EU have been strained over the past few years because of rows over human rights abuses, Uzbekistan–Lithuania bilateral relations have been improving.

Last year, Lithuania’s foreign minister travelled to Tashkent for direct talks with his Uzbek counterpart.
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(News report from Issue No. 224, published on March 25 2015)

Uzbekistan boosts gold production

FEB. 18 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Uzbekistan increased gold production in 2014 by 4.1% to 102 tonnes, media reported quoting the US Geological Survey. Gold is an important source of foreign cash for the Uzbek government. Uzbekistan is now the seventh largest gold producer in the world.
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(News report from Issue No. 220, published on Feb. 25 2015

Uzbekistan to send car parts to Brazil

FEB. 19 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — A car plant factory in Uzbekistan has started producing parts for cars in Brazil, media reported. UzSungwoo is an Uzbek-Korean joint venture. It was set up to produce parts for GM’s plant in Uzbekistan. Demand has dropped at the GM plant because of an economic crisis, possibly triggering UzSungwoo to sell to Brazil.
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(News report from Issue No. 220, published on Feb. 25 2015)

Karimov reappears in public

FEB. 19 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — After two weeks out of public sight, Uzbek president Islam Karimov resurfaced at an election rally in Kashkadaryo, in the south of the country.

At the rally, broadcast on state television, he vigorously told watchers to work together harmoniously to build up civil society.

The carefully stage-managed appearance was necessary because Mr Karimov had to, effectively, remind his countrymen that he is still in charge and is healthy, despite rumours of the opposite.

Mr Karimov’s disappearances are a talking point because they generally trigger gossip and musings on his health. Now, barely a month before a presidential election that Mr Karimov is expected to win, that speculation was intensified.

He was last seen at the beginning of February accepting the credentials of the new US ambassador to Uzbekistan.
Uzbekistan is, currently, relatively unstable. Mr Karimov is 77-years-old and without an apparent successor.

His daughter, Gulnara, is under house arrest and the security service chiefs appear stronger than ever. It is not even clear how much authority Mr Karimov holds on a day-to-day basis.

And all this instability is worrying for the West, analysts have said. They think that the West would prefer a strong President Karimov to contain any nascent signs of growing Islamic extremism.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved

(News report from Issue No. 220, published on Feb. 25 2015)