Tag Archives: Uzbekistan

Uzbekistan develops solar power

NOV. 25 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Uzbekistan clearly wants to burnish its solar power credentials.

It has discussed these credentials at length since independence from the Soviet Union in 1991 and now appears to be taking a major step towards realising them.

The president of the Asia Development Bank, Takehiko Nakao, said that it had agreed a $110m loan to help finance the construction of a solar panel park near Samarkand. The Uzbek government has agreed to spend another $190m on the project.

The plan is to cover an area roughly the size of 560 football pitches (soccer pitches for our American readers) with solar panels.

It’s certainly ambitious, and so it should be. Sun drenches Uzbekistan for most of the year making it a good bet for solar power.

Solar power represents part of the answer to Uzbekistan’s power problems but only if the authorities don’t sell the electricity that the site generates abroad.

ENDS
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(News report from Issue No. 162, published on Nov. 27 2013)

Analysts assess power struggle in Uzbekistan

NOV. 27 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — The fall from favour of Gulnara Karimova, eldest daughter of Uzbek President Islam Karimov, continued.

Ms Karimova closed her charity the Forum for Culture and Art of Uzbekistan a few days after financial police started investigating it for irregularities and then posted a twitter tirade against her mother.

Commentators and analysts around the world have been trying to decipher what Ms Karimova’s woes mean. Below is a round-up of their opinions:

Alexei Malashenko, an analyst at the Carnegie Center in Moscow, said: “Such treatment for Gulnara is hardly possible without being sanctioned by Islam Karimov. There could be two possibilities here. First, the actions of the oldest daughter have placed Karimov’s regime in jeopardy and he has made a decision to rein her in. Secondly, Gulnara has presidential aspirations in light of her father’s old age.”

The Uzbek language BBC quoted Kamoliddin Rabbimov, an Uzbek political scientist, who said that Ms Karimova attempts to bolster her position had ended in disaster. He said: “President Karimov was personally angry with her and ordered the closure of Gulnara Karimova’s media outlets, her Twitter account and other online webpages.”

An unnamed Western official told the New York Times: “Gulnara is probably the person Karimov loves most because she looks like him and is very smart but he is capable of turning on his daughter. He is not the only one on Earth that fits in that category, but he is certainly in that category.”

Alex Nice, an analyst at the Economist Intelligence Unit, said that rival businessmen had grown weary of Ms Karimova. He told the Guardian: “Karimova’s business interests and ambition grew too large; they started to encroach on the interests of other powerful players and at some point they decided to clip her wings.”

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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved

(News report from Issue No. 162, published on Nov. 27 2013)

Uzbekistan plans massive solar plant

NOV. 25 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Asian Development Bank unveiled plans to build a solar panel plant in Uzbekistan the size of 560 football pitches. If successful, the plant could become an important source of energy for Uzbekistan which experiences regular shortages.

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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved

(News report from Issue No. 162, published on Nov. 27 2013)

Daughter of Uzbek president closes charity

NOV. 21 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Gulnara Karimova, eldest daughter of Uzbek President Islam Karimov, closed her charity the Forum for Culture and Art of Uzbekistan after financial police in Uzbekistan raided it. The closure is more evidence of a power struggle in Uzbekistan.

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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved

(News report from Issue No. 162, published on Nov. 27 2013)

Uzbekistan turns to wood for fuel

NOV. 21 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — The authorities in Uzbekistan have ordered residents of Tashkent to use wood as fuel to combat energy shortages, Uzbek media reported. According to one website, the order has sent wood prices in Tashkent rocketing. People in Uzbekistan have been experiencing shortages of gas and electricity for months.

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(News report from Issue No. 162, published on Nov. 27 2013)

Uzbek activist starts prison sentence

NOV. 23 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Bobomurod Razzoqov, a 60-year-old human rights activist from Bukhara in Uzbekistan, started serving a four year prison sentence following his conviction in September of human trafficking. Rights groups said the charges were fabricated. Uzbekistan has one of the worst human rights records in the world.

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(News report from Issue No. 162, published on Nov. 27 2013)

Uzbek delegation visits London

NOV. 21 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — An Uzbek delegation led by foreign minister Abulaziz Kamilov visited Britain for talks on further cooperation and the situation in Afghanistan. Despite concerns over its human rights record, NATO is cooperating with Uzbekistan to withdraw its military equipment from neighbouring Afghanistan next year.

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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved

(News report from Issue No. 162, published on Nov. 27 2013)

UN report condemns torture in Uzbekistan

NOV. 22 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Torture in Uzbek prisons is widespread and systematic, the UN said in a new report. Human rights groups and the UN have said for years that Uzbekistan has one of the worst records on torture in the world. This new report, though, also said little was being done to improve prison conditions.

(News report from Issue No. 162, published on Nov. 27 2013)

Uzbekistan builds ties with EU members

NOV. 13 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Uzbekistan and Latvia appear to be getting cosy.

First, Uzbek President Islam Karimov’s visited Latvia in October, his first trip to the EU since Jan. 2011, and now Uzbekistan has hosted an Uzbek-Latvian business forum in Tashkent.

But Uzbekistan’s new improved relations with the EU doesn’t stop with Latvia. The next day a delegation from the Polish government held talks with the Uzbek government.

And to top off this flurry of EU wooing, media reports said that on Nov. 15 the Uzbek foreign ministry invited Yuri Strek, head of the EU delegation in Uzbekistan, to discuss bilateral ties.

Several years of EU-imposed economic sanctions and arms embargoes failed to yield any real improvement on human rights in Uzbekistan. The EU imposed the sanctions after Uzbek soldiers shot and killed hundreds of civilians in the town of Andijan in 2005. Uzbekistan has said the attack was targeted against Islamic insurgents.

Over the past few years, though, realpolitik has gained the ascendancy. Brussels first lifted travel sanctions on Uzbek officials and then invited Uzbek president Islam Karimov to visit the EU and NATO headquarters.

The EU needs Uzbekistan as a trade partner and an ally to help withdraw NATO soldiers from Afghanistan. Uzbekistan needs the EU to boost its international standing and to play off Russian and Chinese influence.

(News report from Issue No. 161, published on Nov. 20 2013)

Uzbekistan not to join Customs Union

NOV. 15 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — The head of the Uzbek parliament’s foreign affairs committee, Sadiq Safayev, poured cold water on Russian reports that Uzbekistan was considering joining the Moscow-led Customs Union. Uzbekistan is interested in developing bilateral relations with Russia but not in join the Customs Union, media quoted Mr Safayev as saying.

(News report from Issue No. 161, published on Nov. 20 2013)