Tag Archives: Uzbekistan

EU promises to help Uzbekistan

JULY 18 2017 (The Bulletin) — At their first high-level meeting with Uzbek officials since the death of Islam Karimov in September, EU officials praised the reform path that the country has taken over the past 10 months and promised to help reform Uzbekistan’s agricultural sector with a 21.5m euro grant to water research institutes. Karimov was considered an autocrat who refused to relax his grip on both power and the lives of ordinary people. Since his death, Uzbekistan has reformed various laws and increased personal freedoms.

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(News report from Issue No. 337, published on July 27 2017)

24-hour news channel starts in Uzbekistan

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JULY 24 2017 (The Bulletin) — A new state-run 24-hour news channel started broadcasting reports in Uzbek, Russian and English in Uzbekistan. Supporters of the new station have heralded it as yet another move by President Shavkat Mirziyoyev to open up the country but his detractors have said that through the 24-hour news channel he is trying to set and control the agenda.

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(News report from Issue No. 337, published on July 27 2017)

Uzbekistan to reform tax collection system

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JULY 19 2017 (The Bulletin) — The authorities in Uzbekistan have said that they intend to reform the country’s tax system in line with a swathe of liberalisations across the country. It is unclear what officials meant by this but media reported that the government wanted to increase the amount of tax collected and cut down on corruption.

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(News report from Issue No. 337, published on July 27 2017)

IRFC head visits Uzbekistan for first time since 1925

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JULY 3 2017 (The Bulletin) — After visits to Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, Tadateru Konoe, President of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), said that both countries had inspired him and given him “a great deal of hope” because of the way that different ethnic groups worked together. Mr Konoe was the first head of the IFRC to visit Uzbekistan since 1925 when the Red Crescent Society of Uzbekistan was set up.IRF

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(News report from Issue No. 336, published on July 16 2017)

Comment: Turkey’s coup and its impact

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ISTANBUL, JULY 16 2017 (The Bulletin) — Finally we’ve made it to this finest of cities. It’s taken us a week since leaving Edinburgh to get here – via Yorkshire, Hampshire, Lord’s cricket ground, Warsaw, Prague (the airport only) and lovely, louche Odessa.

But at turns brooding and majestic; playful and frustrating, Istanbul is a place that commands love and loyalty. My wife and I are heading east on book research duty, hers not mine, and there was no reason to linger. Still, I insisted. It’s good for the temper, if not the waistline, to spend days here eating, drinking and strolling.

Coincidentally we are in Istanbul for the first anniversary of a failed coup attempt against Turkish President Recep Erdogan. A rebel army unit captured the bridge over the Bosphorus and tried to arrest Erdogan. They failed and the ramifications have been great.

Erdogan blamed the exiled cleric Fethullah Gulen for organising the coup and police have arrested at least 50,000 people for being ‘Gulenists’. This purge hasn’t been confined to Turkey. Pressure has been applied to Turkey’s allies in Central Asia and the South Caucasus too. Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan have been happy to comply, others less so, although Georgia has started to acquiesce.

With a resurgent Russia and a powerful China, Turkey’s influence in the region has waned since the 1990s but the coup anniversary is a reminder that events in Istanbul reverberate across the Anatolian plateau, over the Caspian Sea and on to the Tien Shan mountains.

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(News report from Issue No. 336, published on July 16 2017)

Uzbekistan banns foreign songs

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JULY 4 2017 (The Bulletin) — The authorities in Uzbekistan have banned local singers from covering foreign songs, the US-funded RFE/RL report by quoting government officials, possibly an attempt to exert more control over Uzbek culture. Last month, the Uzbek authorities also ruled that musicians needed to ask for permission before posting their music videos online. The apparent need to exert more control and authority over Uzbek culture contrasts with a more relaxed stance towards business under President Shavkat Mirziyoyev.

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(News report from Issue No. 336, published on July 16 2017)

Ex-ILO official accuses WB of wilful ignorance on Uzbek forced labour

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TASHKENT, JULY 11 2017 (The Bulletin) — In a letter to the FT, Elaine Fultz, a former director for the Central Asia office of the International Labour Organisation (ILO), accused the World Bank of turning a blind eye to forced labour at its projects in Uzbekistan.

She was writing after the World Bank refuted a report last month from Human Rights Watch that forced labour was being used on its projects. The World Bank rejected the accusations and said that the ILO had investigated forced labour accusations in 2016 and concluded that the practice had been stopped.

But Ms Fultz, head of the ILO’s Central Asia office from May 2007 until January 2009 and now a consultant at US-based JMF Research Associates, said that the ILO team that toured Uzbekistan had been too small, too inexperienced and also been accompanied by a group of trade union officials who acted as government minders.

“Under these conditions, the ILO’s failure to detect forced labour in World Bank project areas is hardly surprising,” she wrote. “So why did the World Bank commission the ILO to report on the state of forced labour in Uzbekistan? We must conclude that it did so because it knew precisely what sort of report it would get.”

The issue of forced labour has haunted the Uzbek cotton sector. Over the past seven years Western companies have boycotted garments made from Uzbek cotton because of its association with forced labour.

In its report of June 27, HRW said that the World Bank invested over $500m into Uzbek agriculture in 2015/16 and that it would be impossible for its projects not to be tainted by forced labour.

A World Bank spokesperson told media that it condoned any use of forced labour in Uzbekistan.

“We continue to voice our strong concerns on labour issues to the government of Uzbekistan and we have been working with the International Labour Organisation to put in place a robust monitoring programme,” she said.

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(News report from Issue No. 336, published on July 16 2017)

Uzbekistan has no plans to rejoin the CSTO

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TASHKENT, JULY 3/5 2017 (The Bulletin) — Uzbekistan will not rejoin the Russia-led CSTO military group despite improved relations with its neighbours, Uzbek foreign minister Abdulaziz Kamilov said.

He was speaking after growing speculation that Uzbekistan was looking for a more prominent military role. Earlier, Uzbekistan had said that it was due to hold military exercises with Russia for the first time since 2005.

The CSTO, short for the Collective Security Treaty Organisation, was formed in 1992 after the break up of the Soviet Union and is mainly used as a mechanism for sharing military exercises. Although a rapid reaction force was set up in 2009, it has been criticised for not deploying forces, most notably during ethnic riots in Osh, south Kyrgyzstan, in 2010 that killed hundreds of people.

During a TV interview, Mr Kamilov said: “The question of renewing our CSTO membership is not on the agenda. There are no plans to discuss or review this matter in the future.”

Analysts had speculated that President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, in power since September 2016, may look to reengage with the CSTO. He has generally opened up Uzbekistan since taking power.

Uzbekistan suspended its membership of the CSTO between 1999 and 2006 and quit altogether in 2012. In August 2012, the Uzbek parliament voted to ban Uzbekistan from joining military alliances, including the CSTO. At the time, Uzbekistan was earning billions of dollars as an exit corridor for NATO equipment leaving Afghanistan.

Along with Russia, Belarus, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan are also members.

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(News report from Issue No. 336, published on July 16 2017)

Kazakh authorities slap $27.4m tax fine against Kcell

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ALMATY, JULY 5 2017 (The Bulletin) — Kcell, the biggest Kazakh mobile operator, said that Kazakhstan’s tax authorities have handed it a 9b tenge fine ($27.4m) for unpaid taxes.

In response Kcell, majority owned by Swedish -Finnish operator Telia, said it would dispute the fine, setting up a potentially explosive court fight between a Western corporate and the Kazakh government.

“Following the audit (of our accounts for 2012-15), the tax authority has made a total claim of 9b tenge, of which 5.8b tenge is for unpaid taxes and 3.2b tenge represents fines and penalties for late payment. Kcell intends to dispute this claim through the available mechanisms, which includes court litigation,” Kcell said in a statement.

For both parties a lengthy court battle is poor timing. After a corruption scandal in Uzbekistan centred on paying the daughter of former Uzbek leader Islam Karimov for market access, Telia said it wants to exit the former Soviet Union. As well as its stake in Kcell, it plans to sell out of Uzbekistan Ucell, Azerbaijan’s Azercell, Moldova’s Moldcell and Georgia’s Geocell.

Kazakhstan wants to woo finance companies into setting up in Astana, where it is building an investment centre. Headlines highlighting rows will damage this drive.

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(News report from Issue No. 336, published on July 16 2017)

Uzbekistan allows currency liberalisation

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JULY 7 2017 (The Bulletin) — Uzbekistan has allowed a handful of banks to trade its soum currency at its market rate, Reuters quoted two officials as saying, part of a plan promoted since the death last year of Islam Karimov to liberalise its currency. Currently, investors have to buy soum at an official rate of around 4,000/$1 compared to an unofficial rate of around 8,500/$1. Foreign investors have said that Uzbekistan’s dual currency scheme is a major drawback for its investment climate.

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(News report from Issue No. 336, published on July 16 2017)