OCT. 12 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Uzbekistan and China inaugurated a cargo train service between Binzhou, east China, and Tashkent, an initiative aimed at boosting trade between the two countries. The 5,630km railway also passes through Kazakhstan.
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(News report from Issue No. 253, published on Oct. 23 2015)
OCT. 23 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Uz-Kor Gas, a joint venture between South Korean and Uzbek companies, has completed a $3.9b natural gas processing plant.
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(News report from Issue No. 253, published on Oct. 23 2015)
OCT. 21 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Russian telecoms company VimpelCom said it is selling 50,000 phone towers across the former Soviet Union for $5b. VimpelCom, headquartered in the Netherlands, hired several banks to broker the deal. Armenia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan are among the countries involved in the deal.
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(News report from Issue No. 253, published on Oct. 23 2015)
OCT. 6 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Telenor, a Norwegian telecoms firm, said it is ready to sell its stake in Vimpelcom, a Russian company that also operates in Central Asia under the Beeline brand (Oct. 5). Vimpelcom is under investigation in the US and in the Netherlands for allegedly paying a bribe to enter the Uzbek market.
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(News report from Issue No. 251, published on Oct. 9 2015)
OCT. 7/8 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Turkmen president Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov paid an official visit to Uzbekistan where he discussed security and water scarcity issues with Uzbek President Islam Karimov. An increase in fighting in Afghanistan has become a major concern for the two leaders.
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(News report from Issue No. 251, published on Oct. 9 2015)
OCT. 5 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Hyatt Hotels will build a new luxury hotel in Tashkent funded partly by the Uzbek government, local media reported. Uzbekistan’s state- owned Xalq Banki has said it will provide a 100b sum (officially $38m, but quoted at $20.5m in the black market) loan for the deal, around 10% of the total cost of the project. This will be the first Hyatt hotel in Uzbekistan.
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(News report from Issue No. 251, published on Oct. 9 2015)
OCT. 6 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Data from the Russian Migration Service showed a 17% fall in Uzbek migration into Russia during the first 9 months of 2015 compared to the same period last year. The economic downturn in Russia and the fall in the rouble-dollar exchange rate have discouraged Uzbek workers from travelling to Russia for jobs.
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(News report from Issue No. 251, published on Oct. 9 2015)
OCT. 6 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The authorities in Uzbekistan have placed a senior general under house arrest after allegations of corruption were levied against him by Gulnara Karimova, the eldest daughter of Uzbek president Islam Karimov, media reported.
If Ms Karimova is the source of the allegations it shows that she may still hold influence in Uzbekistan where she has been held under house arrest since March 2014.
The story also shows just how deep the extent of corruption in Uzbekistan is.
The interned general is Hayot Sharifhojayev, who oversaw the corruption investigation into Ms Karimova and her associates, giving her plenty of motive for revenge.
According to a report published by the US-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Gen. Sharifhojayev was arrested in July and has now been placed under house arrest.
The report said that he had been caught trying to sell assets which he had confiscated from Ms Karimova, although it didn’t specify what exactly he was trying to sell.
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(News report from Issue No. 251, published on Oct. 9 2015)
SEPT. 29 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Shangfeng Cement, a Chinese cement producer, aims to raise 1.5b yuan ($235m) to fuel its expansion into Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. The two projects Shangfeng plans in Central Asia both have a capacity to produce 3,200 tonnes of cement per day and will cost around $130m. Shangfeng plans to sell its cement in Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and northern Afghanistan.
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(News report from Issue No. 250, published on Oct. 2 2015)
OCT. 1 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Looking to boost the popular appeal of picking cotton, the authorities in Uzbekistan pulled in an actor and a singer for a photo op of them working in fields, the US-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported. Uzbekistan’s cotton picking programme has drawn criticism from human rights groups.
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(News report from Issue No. 250, published on Oct. 2 2015)
