FEB. 18 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Two Uzbek human rights campaigners said they had been prevented from leaving Uzbekistan to pick up awards in South Korea. Shukhrat Rustamov and Elena Urlaeva said they had been denied exit visas to receive the Tji Haksoon Peace Award on March 11. Uzbek citizens need to apply for an exit visa to leave the country.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 220, published on Feb. 25 2015)
MARCH 19 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Forced to look for alternative markets because of sanctions on Russia and war in Ukraine, Uzbekistan has become a major target for Lithuania’s dairy exports.
In December, dairy exports from Lithuania to Uzbekistan recorded a 19-fold increase compared to the same month in 2013, according to Russia’s Soyuzmoloko, a milk industry group.
Uzbekistan now represents over 12% of the Lithuanian dairy export market, becoming a key target for Lithuanian cheese and butter. Only Poland and Italy now import more dairy products from Lithuania.
Soyuzmoloko said there may be an alternative motive for sending products to Uzbekistan.
“Dairy products exported from Lithuania to Uzbekistan are then sent from Uzbekistan to Russia directly or via Kazakhstan, which is part of the Customs Union,” the Soyuzmoloko said in a note on its website.
The reference to the Customs Union is to an old Kremlin-led economic group. It is now called the Eurasian Economic Union.
While relations between Uzbekistan and the EU have been strained over the past few years because of rows over human rights abuses, Uzbekistan–Lithuania bilateral relations have been improving.
Last year, Lithuania’s foreign minister travelled to Tashkent for direct talks with his Uzbek counterpart.
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(News report from Issue No. 224, published on March 25 2015)
FEB. 18 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Uzbekistan increased gold production in 2014 by 4.1% to 102 tonnes, media reported quoting the US Geological Survey. Gold is an important source of foreign cash for the Uzbek government. Uzbekistan is now the seventh largest gold producer in the world.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 220, published on Feb. 25 2015
FEB. 23 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — A limited OSCE election monitoring team arrived in Tashkent to observe Uzbekistan’s March 29 presidential election. The OSCE is Europe’s main democracy watchdog. It has monitored five elections in Uzbekistan since 1999, all of which it said lacked genuine competition and debate.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 220, published on Feb. 25 2015)
FEB. 19 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — A car plant factory in Uzbekistan has started producing parts for cars in Brazil, media reported. UzSungwoo is an Uzbek-Korean joint venture. It was set up to produce parts for GM’s plant in Uzbekistan. Demand has dropped at the GM plant because of an economic crisis, possibly triggering UzSungwoo to sell to Brazil.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 220, published on Feb. 25 2015)
FEB. 19 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — After two weeks out of public sight, Uzbek president Islam Karimov resurfaced at an election rally in Kashkadaryo, in the south of the country.
At the rally, broadcast on state television, he vigorously told watchers to work together harmoniously to build up civil society.
The carefully stage-managed appearance was necessary because Mr Karimov had to, effectively, remind his countrymen that he is still in charge and is healthy, despite rumours of the opposite.
Mr Karimov’s disappearances are a talking point because they generally trigger gossip and musings on his health. Now, barely a month before a presidential election that Mr Karimov is expected to win, that speculation was intensified.
He was last seen at the beginning of February accepting the credentials of the new US ambassador to Uzbekistan.
Uzbekistan is, currently, relatively unstable. Mr Karimov is 77-years-old and without an apparent successor.
His daughter, Gulnara, is under house arrest and the security service chiefs appear stronger than ever. It is not even clear how much authority Mr Karimov holds on a day-to-day basis.
And all this instability is worrying for the West, analysts have said. They think that the West would prefer a strong President Karimov to contain any nascent signs of growing Islamic extremism.
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(News report from Issue No. 220, published on Feb. 25 2015)
FEB. 13 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Russian energy company LukOil said that along with a consortium headed by South Korea’s Hyundai Engineering it had won a contract to build a gas processing plant in the Kandym region of south Uzbekistan. LukOil did not say how much the project would cost but it did say that it was its largest investment in Uzbekistan.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 219, published on Feb. 18 2015)
FEB. 13 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — The French authorities have seized properties worth millions of euros belonging to Gulnara Karimova, the daughter of Uzbek president Islam Karimov, media reported. One of the properties was an estate near Paris which had its own opera house. Ms Karimova, once a potential presidential successor, is under house arrest in Tashkent.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 219, published on Feb. 18 2015)
>>Releases linked to election in March>>
FEB. 12 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — The authorities in Uzbekistan unexpectedly released Khayrulla Khamidov a sports commentator imprisoned in 2010.
As well as being a soccer commentator, Mr Khamidov was a popular religious speaker who had a large following. He produced CDs and spoke at weddings on social issues.
When he was arrested, on charges of setting up an illegal religious organisation, his supporters said it was an attempt by the authorities to dampen a popular social commentator who they considered was a growing threat to stability. He was imprisoned for six years.
Mr Khamidov’s release, then, appears to be a large concession. Human rights groups have long criticised Uzbekistan for its harsh record against religion. Perhaps, though, this is beginning to change.
The Tashkent-based Initiative Group of Independent Human Rights Advocates of Uzbekistan has said 16 other religious prisoners were released alongside Mr Khamidov.
No official reason for the release has been given although ordinary Uzbeks believe it is linked to a presidential election set for March 29.
Uzbekistan is in flux at the moment. Islam Karimov, who has ruled over the country since the end of the Soviet Union in 1991, is increasingly frail. The election in March and what goes before and after it are increasingly important to monitor.
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(News report from Issue No. 219, published on Feb. 18 2015)
FEB. 17 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — The World Bank agreed a $195m loan to Uzbekistan for a railway project that will speed up trade with China, media reported. The $1.6b project in the eastern Ferghana Valley will also bypass a Soviet-built section of railway that passes through Tajikistan.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 219, published on Feb. 18 2015)
