Tag Archives: Uzbekistan

Uzbekistan’s Mirziyoyev chooses Turkmenistan for first foreign trip

MARCH 6/7 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev travelled to Turkmenistan, his first overseas trip as Uzbekistan’s leader, opening a new railway bridge and pledging to boost cooperation in the energy sector.

By visiting Ashgabat ahead of other potential first stops as president, Mr Mirziyoyev sends a strong signal that he wants to improve relations with Turkmenistan which had been functional rather than particularly friendly under his predecessor, Islam Karimov.

And the good vibes and determination to get on and improve bilateral relations appeared to be mutual. Both Mr Mirziyoyev and Turkmen President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov smiled broadly during the opening of a new railway bridge crossing the arid landscape around the Amu-Darya river near the border town of Turkmenabat.

It will replace a bridge built in 1901. They also unveiled a new bust of Karimov, who died in September.

In a statement, the Uzbek government said: “The President of our country underlined that these bridges symbolise the friendship of our peoples and have a geo-strategic significance not only for Turkmenistan, but also for the whole region.”

It’s in the interests of both Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan to promote trade with their southern neighbours. They want to develop a route south to the Gulf states to send gas, wheat and cotton.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 320, published on March 13 2017)

SCO chief: India & Pakistan will join within three months

Leave a Reply

ALMATY, MARCH 10 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — India and Pakistan could become members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) by June, its Secretary-General Rashid Alimov said in a message that will raise concern in the West about the growing influence of the Russia and China-led security and economic alliance.

If, or perhaps when, India and Pakistan, join the SCO it will give the organisation leverage over roughly 40% of the world’s population and extend its geographical focus away from Central Asia towards South Asia.

Mr Alimov, Tajikistan’s former ambassador to Beijing who has been heading the SCO’s secretariat since 2016, put out the statement on Sina Weibo, China’s version of Twitter.

There has been no official confirmation of Mr Alimov’s message but last year both Pakistan and India did sign an agreement pledging to join the six member group by the end of 2017. On June 8/9, the SCO plans to hold its annual summit in Astana.

Some analysts in the West have previously likened the SCO to an Asian version of NATO, set up to act as an alternative global rallying point to the West. Other observers have said that the comparison is off the mark and that the SCO is a long way off being as developed a military alliance as NATO.

Alongside Russia and China, the SCO members are Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. Iran, Afghanistan, Belarus and Mongolia also have ‘observer’ status in the SCO, which is headquartered in Beijing and was set up in 2001.

The SCO holds war exercises, hosts diplomatic and governmental get-togethers and shares intelligence between members. It also promotes economic cooperation, allowing China to invest in Central Asia.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 320, published on March 13 2017)

Uzbekistan deports BBC reporter

Leave a Reply

MARCH 4 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — BBC journalist Hamid Ismailov said he was detained and deported when he tried to enter Uzbekistan through Tashkent airport (March 4). Under Shavkat Mirziyoyev, who took over as president in September 2016, Uzbekistan has appeared to become marginally more free.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 319, published on March 4 2017)

Uzbek authorities detain rights campaigner

Leave a Reply

MARCH 3 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — The authorities in Uzbekistan detained human rights campaigner Elena Urlaeva, Reuters reported quoting a video message she posted on the internet. In her video message, Ms Urlaeva said that she had been detained, beaten and taken to a psychiatric unit in Tashkent. She is best known for campaigning against forced labour in the cotton industry. She had been due to meet with the World Bank to discuss forced labour violations.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 319, published on March 3 2017)

Uzbek authorities release reporter after 18 years

Leave a Reply

FEB. 22 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Uzbekistan released opposition activist and journalist Muhammad Bekjanov from prison after 18 years. Mr Bekjanov, considered one of the longest serving political prisoners in the world, was sent to prison in 1999 after a trial linked to a car bomb in the capital, Tashkent. His supporters have always said that he is innocent.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 318, published on Feb.24 2017)

Blast at Uzbek chemical factory kills five

Leave a Reply

FEB. 24 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — A blast at a chemical plant in Ferghana, east Uzbekistan, on Feb. 23 killed several people, the Uzbek government said.

It declined to give any more details about the blast, other than to report that an investigation had been set up, but the Sputnik news agency quoted a source at the fertiliser factory as saying that at least five people had been killed and that several more had been injured.

“A total of five people have been killed at the site of the explosion, all of them were part of a repair team. Several others are now in a hospital,” the source told Sputnik, a Russian news agency.

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty said that the blast occurred at the ammonia production facility of the Farg’onaazot company which produces fertilisers.

Analysts will look at how Presi- dent Shavkat Mirzioyev, in power since September when Islam Karimov died, and his government handle this industrial accident – both releasing information about it and dealing with any potential local anger.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 318, published on Feb.24 2017)

Tajikistan and Uzbekistan cancel flight at last minute

Leave a Reply

DUSHANBE, FEB. 20 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — After months of build- up and a successful dry-run, the start of a regular commercial flight between Dushanbe and Tashkent was cancelled at the last minute.

Both sides blamed the other for cancelling what would have been the first regular service between the Tajik and Uzbek capitals for 25 year and a tangible sign that relations between the two countries had started to improve after years of feuding.

Somon Air, Tajikistan’s main airline, was due to make the flight, a repeat of a one-off flight it made earlier this month. It said that Tashkent airport had contacted it and said that permission to make the flight had been withdrawn for security reasons. Tashkent airport denied this and said that the flight had been cancelled because Somon Air had failed to submit the correct paper- work in time.

Having tried to pin the blame on Tashkent airport for the flight failing to fly, Somon Air then admitted it had been at fault and promised to make the flight over the “next few days”.

Media later report that Somon Air had fired Alisher Rustamov, director of commercial operations, for failing to ensure that the flight took off.

Relations between Uzbekistan and its neighbours have improved markedly since Shavkat Mirziyoyev became president at the end of last year. His predecessor, Islam Karimov, was known to be cantankerous and relations with his neighbours had soured during his presidency. He died in September 2016 and his daughter, Gulnara, who had harboured ambitions to succeed him, was sidelined.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 318, published on Feb.24 2017)

Swiss private bank may have failed to stop Uzbek money laundering

Leave a Reply

FEB. 23 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Swiss prosecutors confirmed that they were investigating the private Geneva-based bank Lombard Odier for failing to prevent money laundering by Gulnara Karimova, the daughter of Uzbekistan’s former president Islam Karimov.

The investigation is the first time that a Western bank has been directly linked to a bribe-taking racket run by Ms Karimova. She took bribes worth hundreds of millions of dollars from telecoms companies looking to access the Uzbek market in 2007/8.

Lombard Odier is one of the oldest and most respected names in Swiss private banking and the investigation may signal the start of a deeper and wider probe into how Western banks have helped, or at least failed to stop, Ms Karimova’s money laundering. So far only the telecoms companies — Telia, Telenor and Vimpelcom — have had their links with Ms Karimova scrutinised.

“The investigations are being made on the basis of information revealed by criminal investigations … into allegations of money laundering involving suspects that include the daughter of the former president of Uzbekistan,” Reuters quoted Switzerland’s Office of the Attorney General as saying.

The probe had first been reported by the Bilanz magazine.

Ms Karimova has been under house arrest in Tashkent since 2014 and her closest associates have been jailed.

Lombard Odier also released a statement saying that it was cooperating with the investigation and that it had reported suspicious transactions to the Swiss authorities in 2012.

Before returning to Tashkent at the end of 2013, Ms Karimova had been based in Geneva as Uzbekistan’s ambassador to the UN. After Lombard Odier’s report of suspicious transactions in 2012, the Swiss authorities froze bank accounts linked to her which held 800m Swiss francs ($795m).

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 318, published on Feb.24 2017)

Uzbek president to visit Kazakhstan

FEB. 14 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Continuing his outreach to neighbours, Uzbek president Shavkat Mirziyoyev said that he would also visit Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbayev in the first half of 2017. The potential emergence of Uzbekistan as an economic powerhouse in Central Asia under Mr Mirziyoyev, who took over from the presidency after Islam Karimov died in September, may challenge Kazakhstan’s dominance.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 317, published on Feb.17 2017)

Uzbek president to visit Moscow

FEB. 15 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Uzbek president Shavkat Mirziyoyev will make his first visit to Moscow as Uzbekistan’s leader in April, media reported quoting his press team. The trip is likely to include a meeting with Russian leader Vladimir Putin. Mr Putin met with Mr Mirziyoyev during the funeral of former president Islam Karimov in September. He backed Mr Mirziyoyev as president.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 317, published on Feb.17 2017)