JULY 6 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Uzbek police detained several senior officials at the local unit of Russian mobile operator MTS for allegedly not paying enough tax, the company said in a statement. MTS denied the charges and said the investigation may force it to close its operations in Uzbekistan where it has 9m subscribers.
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(News report from Issue No. 095, published on July 6 2012)
JUNE 25 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – The Uzbek authorities warned Russian mobile telecoms provider MTS it may revoke its licence. They said MTS, which has around 9.5m subscribers in Uzbekistan, was providing deteriorating quality and illegally using base stations. Foreign businesses have previously accused the Uzbek government of taking over successful companies.
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(News report from Issue No. 094, published on June 29 2012)
JUNE 27 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Uzbekistan has suspended its membership of the CSTO, a Russia-lead military alliance that includes many of the former Soviet states, a CSTO spokesperson announced in Moscow. No reason was given for Uzbekistan’s decision. Uzbekistan has increasingly earned a reputation as a unilateralist.
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(News report from Issue No. 094, published on June 29 2012)
JUNE 15 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kommersant, a respected Russian business newspaper, quoted sources close to governments in Central Asia describing negotiations with the US over potentially abandoning some military equipment during its withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2014.
The sources said that, as a money-saving plan, senior US generals had discussed leaving trucks, medical and fire-fighting equipment and even armoured vehicles in Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.
NATO’s exit from Afghanistan is already sensitive and complex. US relations with Pakistan have broken down leaving Central Asia as the only alternative.
This means making deal with government whose human rights record falls, to put it mildly, below Western standards. Russia and China also take a close interest in Central Asia, making NATO’s potential withdrawal through the region even more sensitive.
But NATO has persevered and seemingly managed to carve itself out the route it needs.
Leaving kit in Central Asia though, even if it’s of the non-lethal variety, has not publicly been part of the plan. This has upset the Russians just when NATO needs their support.
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(News report from Issue No. 093, published on June 22 2012)
JUNE 1 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – The Uzbek authorities launched a new social networking website called YouFace. The Uzbek authorities are notoriously paranoid about the influence of social networking websites and youface.uz is monitored by the authorities. As well as having a similar name to Facebook, it also has a similar layout.
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(News report from Issue No. 091, published on June 8 2012)
JUNE 4 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Russian President Vladimir Putin visited Tashkent for talks with his Uzbek counterpart Islam Karimov. Local media reported that Mr Putin and Mr Karimov discussed strengthening relations and in particular boosting security ties.
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(News report from Issue No. 091, published on June 8 2012)
MAY 29 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Human rights groups urged the Uzbek government to allow the UN’s International Labour Organisation (ILO) to monitor its 2012 cotton harvest. Clothing companies have boycotted cotton from Uzbekistan because it uses child labour. The Uzbek authorities have refused the ILO access to monitor the harvest.
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(News report from Issue No. 090, published on June 1 2012)
MAY 31 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – One of China’s top military officers, General Chen Bingde, visited Taskhent and called for greater bilateral cooperation between Uzbekistan and China, media reported. General Chen said Central Asia had an important part to play in the world. He holds a position equivalent to the US’ Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
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(News report from Issue No. 090, published on June 1 2012)
MAY 19 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – An Uzbek-South Korean joint venture said it had secured a $2.5b loan from a consortium of banks to build a gas plant in the northwest of the country. The planned gas plant at the Surgil field is considered an important part of Uzbekistan’s future energy policy and will create 1,000 jobs.
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(News report from Issue No. 089, published on May 25 2012)
MAY 18 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – For the second time this year the Uzbek government has pledged economic reforms to open up its command economy to private investors and, potentially, foreign investors.
On May 15, Uzbek media quoted Saifitdlin Gafarov, deputy chairman of the Uzbek state property committee, as saying that the government wanted to sell off 500 stated owned assets. Mr Gafarov was thin on details but he did say that the sell-off would cover all sectors from energy to pharmaceuticals. Intriguingly, AP reported that Mr Gafarov said Uzbekistan was specifically looking for foreign partners to develop its technology industry.
All this sounds good and Mr Gafarov’s announcement also comes a few weeks after a statement that Uzbekistan wants to make life easier for often-harassed foreign firms working in the country.
Despite the warm words, though, there has been no hard plan. It’s unclear exactly what the government means and whether they are serious about bringing in much-needed foreign investment and expertise or whether they just want to sell-off assets to members of the elite.
The Uzbek economy is closed off, inflation is rampant and shortages are increasing. Opening up the economy may help to ease problems but if the Uzbek government wants to be taken seriously it needs to unveil more plans.
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(News report from Issue No. 088, published on May 18 2012)
