Tag Archives: Uzbekistan

Uzbekistan strives to improve diplomatic ties

MAY 6 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Diplomatically, at least, Uzbekistan appears in high demand.

At the end of a trade mission to Bangladesh, Uzbekistan signed deals worth $100m, cementing the growing cotton-fuelled Tashkent-Dhaka axis (April 30). Since then, too, nations from across the world have been lining up to increase ties with Uzbekistan.

Japan’s deputy PM Taro Aso visited Tashkent and held talks with president Islam Karimov on boosting trade relations (May 6) and Malaysia’s deputy PM also visited on a similar mission, carrying a similar message (May 4).

From the EU, Latvian officials started to arrive in Tashkent for the start of the next round of bi-lateral talks (May 5) and from South America Chile’s ambassador to Uzbekistan, officially seated in Moscow, said the country wanted to open up a permanent trade office in Tashkent (May 1).

To round off a busy week, the US’ second most senior diplomat, Deputy Secretary of State William Burns included Uzbekistan on a whirlwind tour of Central Asia (May 5).

Strategically located next to Afghanistan and with plenty of cotton, energy and gold resources, Uzbekistan has become a state that others now want to do business with.

It wasn’t long ago that Uzbekistan, with its distinctly dubious human rights record and unilateral foreign policies, was considered a pariah state.

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(News report from Issue No. 183, published on May 7 2014)

IMF upgrades Uzbek growth

APRIL 30 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — The IMF has upgraded Uzbekistan’s economic growth rate to 7% in 2014 from 6.5% earlier forecast, media reported. It also said that inflation would creep up to about 11% from an earlier estimate of 10.4%. Inflation has boomed in Uzbekistan and poses a real risk to the economy..

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(News report from Issue No. 183, published on May 7 2014)

Uzbekistan improves cotton ties with Bangladesh

APRIL 29 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Looking for more allies in Asia, Uzbekistan plans to strengthen diplomatic ties and transport links with Bangladesh.

This Uzbek-Bangladeshi alliance, though, is based fully on business. More precisely, it is based on cotton.

An Uzbek government delegation begins a three-day visit to Dhaka, the Bangladeshi capital, on April 30. Media reported that it will open an embassy in the country, its first new embassy for several years, and re-start direct flights. Uzbekistan Airways had flown from Tashkent to Dhaka between 1996 and 2005 but dropped the route because it was a commercial flop. It is now expanding and it suits the diplomatic discourse to re-start the route.

The root cause of all this chumminess between Uzbekistan and Bangladesh is cotton. There are no historical, cultural or religious links. This is 21st century commercial diplomacy.

Cotton is one of Uzbekistan’s key exports but over the last few years it has found it increasingly hard to sell to the West. Western companies have grown more and more sensitive about Uzbekistan’s use of child labour to pick the cotton. Many Western companies imposed a boycott on Uzbek cotton, forcing Uzbekistan to look for new clients. It found these in China and Bangladesh.

Since 2012, cotton exports to both China and Bangladesh have increased enormously. Uzbekistan now supplies Bangladesh, one of the world’s biggest garment manufacturing countries, with 40% of its total cotton.

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(News report from Issue No. 182, published on April 30 2014)

Uzbekistan rigs media buildings

APRIL 28 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — The authorities in Uzbekistan have ordered TV and radio stations to rig explosives to their buildings and equipment and to detonate them if they fall into enemy hands, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) reported. RFE/RL said the order may have been made to protect against Ukraine-style uprising.

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(News report from Issue No. 182, published on April 30 2014)

Iran, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan sign rail deal

APRIL 28 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan signed agreements with their Iranian counterparts that will extend rail cooperation between the countries, media reported. Central Asian countries have been signing deals with Iran to extend a trade route to the Persian Gulf.

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(News report from Issue No. 182, published on April 30 2014)

Uzbek mosques warn faithful against complaining

APRIL 13 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Controlled by the state and with Ukraine’s revolution still fresh in the mind, media reported that mosques in Uzbekistan have been preaching about the joys of refraining from discontent and remaining humble.

Information leaking out of Uzbekistan points to a fairly crude attempt to control the masses through the mosques.

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, funded by the US government, quoted one resident of the town of Andijan in the east of Uzbekistan who had listened to the Friday sermon at his local mosque.

“Complaining and criticising is testamount to betrayal,” the unnamed man quoted the imam as saying.

Unsurprisingly, Uzbekistan was opposed to the revolution in Ukraine, mainly because it didn’t want it to set a precedent.

Uzbekistan is also wary of religion. It blames radical Islamists for a series of attacks against government targets in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

(News report from Issue No. 180, published on April 16 2014)

Uzbek president’s daughter loses Tashkent buildings

APRIL 14 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Uzbek government has taken control of buildings in the centre of Tashkent previously owned by Gulnara Karimova, the eldest daughter of Uzbek president Islam Karimov, media reported. The buildings are just the latest assets to be taken from Ms Karimova who is reportedly under house arrest.

(News report from Issue No. 180, published on April 16 2014)

Northern region in Uzbekistan attracts tourists for the Aral Sea

APRIL 9 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — More and more foreign tourists are heading to Nukus in Karkalpakstan, western Uzbekistan, to visit the dried up Aral Sea, the Eurasianet website reported. The Aral Sea had been a major inland sea but Soviet water systems siphoned off water and it shrivelled to a fraction of its size.

(News report from Issue No. 180, published on April 16 2014)

Uzbekistan boosts PM powers

APRIL 10 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Uzbekistan’s parliament approved extending the powers of the PM, media reported, a move that some analysts have said shows President Islam Karimov’s influence is waning. It is still unclear what powers have been transferred to the PM although Radio Free Europe said that parliament would control the cabinet’s activities.

(News report from Issue No. 180, published on April 16 2014)

Uzbekistan jails Tajik spies

APRIL 3 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Uzbekistan jailed three Tajik women for spying, potentially straining relations with neighbouring Tajikistan. The women were found guilty of photographing military hardware and passing on the information to Tajik agents. Relations between Uzbekistan and Tajikistan are generally strained.

(News report from Issue No. 179, published on April 9 2014)