AUG. 8 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – At least 15 people died in Uzbekistan when a bridge they were watching a concert from collapsed, media reported. The accident happened in a park in the town of Urgench, west Uzbekistan. It highlights the poor quality of many public buildings.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 243, published on Aug. 14 2015)
JULY 23 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Shavkat Mirziyoyev, Uzbekistan’s PM, said GDP grew by 8.1% in the first half of 2015, compared to 2014. Given the secretive nature of the country, Uzbekistan’s official statistics have to be treated with skepticism.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 241, published on July 23 2015)
JULY 20 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – General Motor’s subsidiary, GM Uzbekistan, and Uzavtosanoat said they will build a second car plant in Uzbekistan, according to Ruslan Batyrov, head of media at Uzavtosanoat. The two companies already own a car plant near Andijan, eastern Uzbekistan.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 241, published on July 23 2015)
JULY 23 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Turkmenistan’s foreign minister Rashid Meredov will travel to Afghanistan for talks with his Uzbek counterpart, media reported. Turkmenistan has become increasingly worried about the build up of Taliban forces on its borders. It also has an interest in stability in Afghanistan because of the proposed TAPI pipeline that will pump gas to Pakistan and India.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 241, published on July 23 2015)
JULY 23 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – A photo released by Uzbek officials of President Islam Karimov’s trip to Russia earlier this month for a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) appears to have been doctored to shrink Chinese president Xi Jinping, a tall man, to the same height as Mr Karimov and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Opposition groups have previously accused official Uzbek media of doctoring images of Mr Karimov, 77, to make him look younger and fitter.
The Uzbek government has not commented.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 241, published on July 23 2015)
JULY 16 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – A blast at a gold mine around 90km southeast of Tashkent has killed 25 people, local media reported. The blast occurred on July 13 at the village of Kochbulak. Reports said the blast was linked to a ownership dispute.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 240, published on July 16 2015)
JULY 19 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – At a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in Ufa, Russia, Uzbek leader Islam Karimov spoke unusually warmly about relations with Russia.
Mr Karimov veers from near- hostility towards Russia to extreme warmth.
Russian television showed Russian President Vladimir Putin greeting Mr Karimov.
“You haven’t been here on a state visit for a long time,” he said.
Mr Karimov shook his hand and replied: “Whatever disputes we may have, nobody can make Russia and Uzbekistan quarrel as we have common interests.”
Mr Karimov’s last state visit to Russia was in April 2013. Most Central Asia and South Caucasus leaders, other than those from Georgia and Turkmenistan, are semi-regular visitors to Moscow.
The Uzbek head of state’s manoeuvres are understandable.
Uzbekistan may be improving its relations with the West, especially with regards to allowing NATO countries to ship their military kit out of Afghanistan, but Russia is still the regional superpower and Mr Karimov needs its help economically as well as to bolster security along its porous southern border where he says the Taliban are massing.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 240, published on July 16 2015)
JULY 15 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov travelled to Uzbekistan from Vienna where he had been attending a summit on Iran. Besides the usual talk of cooperation, Kommersant newspaper reported that Uzbek sources reassured Mr Lavrov that cooperation with the US will not develop at the expense of relations with Russia.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 240, published on July 16 2015)
JULY 3 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The World Bank approved a $305m loan to Uzbekistan to update and modernise its motorway network and a second loan of $105m to improve the irrigation network in the Bukhara region, media reported. Human rights groups have criticises the world Bank for the loans.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 239, published on July 9 2015)
JULY 9 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – GM Uzbekistan, a joint venture between the Uzbek government and US carmaker GM, sold 10,357 cars in Russia in the first half of this year, media reported quoting the company.
This is 57% less than in 2014 and highlights the economic problems rebounding around Central Asia linked to the decline in Russia’s economy.
Russia is one of GM Uzbekistan’s biggest market, so for it to drop away so seriously is bad news for the company.
GM Uzbekistan is based near the city of Andijan in eastern Uzbekistan.
In 2010, GM Uzbekistan employed 5,000 people. If demand for its cars, and it mainly produces mid-range Chevrolet cars at this plant, falls away significantly then these jobs may be under threat.
The drop in car sales is symptomatic of a general decline in economic conditions around the Central Asia region.
As well as a drop in exports to Russia, remittance flows back to Central Asia from workers in Moscow and beyond have dropped across the region by around 40%. Currencies have also dropped in value by around a third.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 239, published on July 9 2015)
