SEPT. 5 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Tajik President Emomali Rakhmon officially unveiled the new Sangtuda-2 hydropower station near Dushanbe, underlining the close ties between the countries. Tajikistan views new dams as vital for power but they have created tension with Uzbekistan, which is worried about water supply.
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(News report from Issue No. 55, published on Sept. 6 2011)
SEPT. 3 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – Against the backdrop of celebrations marking the 20th anniversary of independence in Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, Dushanbe also hosted the 20th summit of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). Media reports said it was a rather fractious affair that ended with a vague declaration to improve regional trade.
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(News report from Issue No. 55, published on Sept. 6 2011)
AUG. 23 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – At least 12 Uzbeks extradited by Kazakhstan to Uzbekistan earlier this year have gone on trial accused of religious extremism, local media reported. Human rights groups had protested the extraditions of the 26 Uzbeks. Uzbek human rights group Ezgulik said two of the accused have already been sent to jail.
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(News report from Issue No. 54, published on Aug. 30 2011)
AUG. 25 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak signed major deals during a trip to Central Asia, turning South Korea into one of the region’s biggest business partners. In Kazakhstan, South Korean companies will build two coal-fired power stations and a petrochemical plant worth $8b. In Uzbekistan, a South Korean company will build a $2.8b chemicals plant.
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(News report from Issue No. 54, published on Aug. 30 2011)
AUG. 10 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – A court in Tashkent jailed the former chief metallurgist of British miner Oxus Gold for 12 years for spying. Oxus said that Said Aushurov, a Tajik, was innocent and that the Uzbek government was using him as a pawn in its drive to take control of a gold mine.
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(News report from Issue No. 53, published on Aug. 17 2011)
AUG. 15 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – NATO withdrawal from Afghanistan could allow militant Islam to spread into Central Asia, Russian media quoted Nikolai Bordyuzha, secretary-general of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) as saying at a meeting in Astana. The CSTO is a loose security group of Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan
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(News report from Issue No. 53, published on Aug. 17 2011)
AUG. 15 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – Uzbekistan blocked access to a number of western news websites during the London riots apparently to stop the images from reaching its own people. Russian media quoted Uzbek president Islam Karimov saying the websites were blocked to protect the country’s youth from “negative Western influences”.
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(News report from Issue No. 53, published on Aug. 17 2011)
AUG. 10 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – Uzbekistan’s GDP grew by 8% in the first half of the year compared to the same period in 2010, Reuters quoted state media as saying. The report also said inflation had grown by 3.6% between Jan. and June. Uzbekistan operates a relatively closed economy.
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(News report from Issue No. 52, published on Aug. 10 2011)
AUG. 9 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – The authorities in Uzbekistan have deported eight suspected Christian missionaries, AFP news agency quoted a state website as saying. According to the report, the missionaries were all US citizens but spoke fluent Uzbek and posed as businessmen with Uzbek names. The US embassy in Tashkent declined to comment.
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(News report from Issue No. 52, published on Aug. 10 2011)
JULY 23 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – Uzbekistan Railway took delivery of a Spanish- made high speed train that will travel the 344km between the capital Tashkent and Samarkand in two hours, it said in a statement. Uzbekistan ordered two trains from Spanish manufacturer Patentes Talgo in Jan. 2010 reportedly for 38m euros.
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(News report from Issue No. 50, published on July 27 2011)
