MARCH 5 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — According to the Uzmetronom.uz website, many of the statistics published by the state agency are incorrect. It quoted independent economists saying that the government uses favourable data to inflate its achievements. Uzbekistan’s has been reporting a booming economy despite apparent stresses in the system.
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(News report from Issue No. 175, published on March 12 2014)
FEB. 27 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Uzbek immigrants contributed around a third of the remittances sent from Russia between January 2010 and September 2013, media reported quoting Uzbekistan’s Central Bank. The Central Bank data underlines how dependent ordinary people in Uzbekistan are on cash sent home by Uzbeks working in Russia.
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(News report from Issue No. 174, published on March 5 2014)
MARCH 3 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Apparently recognising that more needs to be done to encourage private commerce in Uzbekistan, the government is considering introducing a new law on privatisation, media reported. Over the past couple of years, Uzbekistan has privatised a number of state-owned assets.
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(News report from Issue No. 174, published on March 5 2014)
MARCH 3 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Gulnara Karimova, eldest daughter of Uzbek president Islam Karimov, and her daughter have not been heard from since a raid on their Tashkent home on Feb. 17. Exiled opposition website uznews.net quoted an Uzbek intelligence officer saying Ms Karimova was under house arrest. The accuracy of this report cannot be independently verified.
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(News report from Issue No. 174, published on March 5 2014)
MARCH 4 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — If Georgia’s support for the revolution in Ukraine was no surprise, Uzbekistan’s apparent concern about the territorial integrity of Ukraine is.
Uzbekistan was the first from the block of former Soviet states that you would have bet on supporting Russia to break ranks.
“Events in Ukraine … create a real threat to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country and have caused deep anxiety and concern in Uzbekistan,” the Uzbek foreign ministry said in a statement on its website.
Uzbekistan has a reputation for isolationism. It has awkward relations with its neighbours and has stayed clear of the Russian-led Customs Union.
Even so, Uzbekistan is part of the military orientated Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) which includes Russia, China and most of Central Asia. Russia is also an important economic partner for Uzbekistan.
For Uzbekistan to issue such a statement criticising the Russian military’s deployment in Ukraine is risky. Uzbekistan’s relations with its former colonial master have been patchy and, after this proclamation, may be even patchier.
Perhaps spurring Uzbekistan on in the background is its current ties to NATO. NATO is paying Uzbekistan handsomely to shift its kit from Afghanistan back home. Uzbekistan, possibly, had one eye on their current benefactors when issuing the statement.
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(News report from Issue No. 174, published on March 5 2014)
FEB. 19 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Aral Sea, which straddles Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, has not lost as much water as scientists had previously feared, media reported quoting US scientists working at NASA. NASA’s Satellite photos showed that although 90% of the Aral Sea’s surface water has disappeared, much has concentrated in deeper pockets in the northern part of the sea.
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(News report from Issue No. 173, published on Feb. 26 2014)
FEB. 19 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Uzbekistan rejected criticism from human rights groups that it violates the right to religious freedom, media reported. The New York-based Human Rights Watch has previously reported that Uzbekistan has arrested more than 200 people since 2012 on religionr-elated charges.
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(News report from Issue No. 173, published on Feb. 26 2014)
FEB. 23 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Uzbekistan’s government has allocated another $280m to the construction of a railway line linking the Ferghana Valley to the rest of the country, media reported.
The loan from the Uzbek Reconstruction and Development Fund to Uzbekistan Railways is to be specifically spent on mining machinery needed for the project.
It’s an ambitious project designed to allow trains to cross — over and under — the mountains straddling the Ferghana Valley with the rest of the country.
It’s also important, not only for reducing journey times, but also politically. Currently the main road linking the Ferghana Valley to the rest of Uzbekistan is often closed during winter because of snow, forcing people to travel through Tajikistan. Uzbekistan’s relations with Tajikistan are strained.
Although the Uzbek government has offered some cash for the project, much of the funding is coming from China. This is revealing. China has becoming increasingly active in Central Asia through the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) military alliance and through funding various projects.
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(News report from Issue No. 173, published on Feb. 26 2014)
FEB. 19 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Uzbekistan’s Prosecutor-General accused three associates of President Islam Karimov’s eldest daughter, Gulnara Karimova, of various financial crimes, including fraud, tax evasion and money laundering. Police arrested Rustam Madumarov, Ms Karimova’s boyfriend, and two friends at her home on Feb. 17.
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(News report from Issue No. 173, published on Feb. 26 2014)
FEB. 21 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakhstan has banned the sale of Uzbekistan-made GM Daewoo cars, media reported, triggering a potential trade row between the two neighbours.
Officially, Kazakhstan said Customs Union rules stated that imported cars must have at least one front airbag, ABS braking, child safety seat attachment points, daytime running lights and an immobiliser.
Unofficially, the suspicion is that Kazakhstan may be using the Customs Union to protect its own car industry.
The Customs Union has been in existence since 2011. It is led by Russia and so far includes also Kazakhstan and Belarus, although Armenia and Kyrgyzstan plan to join later this year. Uzbekistan has no plans to join.
Its rules and regulations, though, are some-what murky but what we do know is that, by instinct, it is a protectionist organisation.
What is clear is that last year GM-Uzbekistan, which produces its cars at a factory in Andijan in eastern Uzbekistan sold around 23,000 of its cheaper car models in Kazakhstan and around three times that many to Russia.
GM took over the Daewoo factory in Uzbekistan in 2008.
Visitors to Shymkent, a city of 600,000 people in Kazakhstan on the border with Uzbekistan, will notice that many of the cars on the roads being driven there are Daewoo.
Both Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan have been talking up their car industries. Uzbekistan’s main car markets are Russia and Kazakhstan and the GM Daewoo factory is its biggest producer.
Losing Kazakhstan, and Russia, as an export market will be a major blow and have, potentially, far reaching implications.
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(News report from Issue No. 173, published on Feb. 26 2014)