SEPT. 25 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Uzbekistan will allow five more airports, mainly in the eastern Ferghana Valley, to accept international flights, media reported. The flights are likely to serve Russia where labourers head for jobs, underlining the importance of Uzbekistan’s migrant workforce to its economy.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 154, published on Oct. 2 2013)
SEPT. 27 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Uzbekistan has tripled cotton fibre exports to China to 300,000 tonnes, about half its total production, media reported.
The move is a snub to European and US buyers which have been lobbying to force Uzbekistan to drop its use of children to pick the cotton. It’s also another indicator of the deepening reach of China in Central Asia.
Cotton is important to Uzbekistan. It harvests around 3.3m tonnes of raw cotton a year and is the world’s second largest exporter.
Chinese President Xi Jinping’s tour of Central Asia last month had focused on energy supplies and security issues. This deal, though, was apparently secured when he was in Tashkent.
After China, Bangladesh and South Korea are the biggest buyers, underlining how little leverage the West has with Uzbekistan over its cotton harvest.
The West’s push to stop Uzbekistan using children to pick cotton does, though, appear to have had some impact. Reports from Uzbekistan at the start of the cotton picking season said that the state-run plantations had now stopped employing school children to pick the cotton.
In September Uzbek authorities also allowed a team of monitors from the UN’s International Labour Organisation (ILO) in the country to observe the cotton harvest, although human rights groups said they were still worried that the observers would only be allowed a blinkered view.
Their official report is widely anticipated.
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(News report from Issue No. 154, published on Oct. 2 2013)
SEPT. 25 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — The price of a loaf of bread in Uzbekistan has risen by nearly 10% to 600 sum ($0.3), media reported. Reports said that an increase in utility tariffs across Uzbekistan had forced bread prices to rise. Bread prices also rose by 10% in September last year.
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(News report from Issue No. 154, published on Oct. 2 2013)
OCT. 1 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Uzbek soldiers are expected to withdraw from disputed territory on the border with Kyrgyzstan, media reported. Local Kyrgyz accused the Uzbek soldiers of occupying the land days earlier. Tension has been rising on the Uzbekistan-Kyrgyzstan border for the past year.
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(News report from Issue No. 154, published on Oct. 2 2013)
SEPT. 25 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Uzbekistan’s finance ministry has approved an increase in electricity and gas prices, media reported. Reports quoted state-run Uzbekenergo saying electricity prices will rise by 6.95% from Oct. 1. Uzbekneftagaz said gas prices would rise by 8.5%. Utility prices have steadily increased in Uzbekistan, upsetting ordinary people.
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(News report from Issue No. 154, published on Oct. 2 2013)
SEPT. 27 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Uzbek government will invest $78m between 2013 and 2015 in the tourist sector around Tashkent, Uzbektourism told the Trend news agency. The number of tourists visiting Uzbekistan, mainly for the ancient Silk Road towns, has steadily increased. Officials want to double the number of hotel rooms in Tashkent to 2,800.
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(News report from Issue No. 154, published on Oct. 2 2013)
SEPT. 25 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Police in the city of Urgench, northwest Uzbekistan, have detained Sergei Naumov, a prominent independent-minded journalist, without explanation since Sept. 21, rights groups said. Uzbekistan has one of the worst human rights records in the world and rights groups said they worried about Mr Naumov’s safety.
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(News report from Issue No. 153, published on Sept. 25 2013)
SEPT. 10 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — In front of thousands of fans at the national stadium in Tashkent, Uzbekistan’s football team lost to Jordan in a penalty shootout in the second match of their World Cup playoff tie. The match had ended 1-1. Uzbekistan had been trying to become the first team from Central Asia to reach the World Cup finals.
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(News report from Issue No. 151, published on Sept. 11 2013)
AUG. 26 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Irish Distillers, a subsidiary of Pernod Ricard, has lost the rights to the Jameson whiskey brand name in Uzbekistan, RFE/RL reported. A local company owns the Jameson brand name through a 2008 patent, the court ruled. Western companies have previously struggled to defend intellectual property in Uzbekistan.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 150, published on Sept. 2 2013)
AUG. 30 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Uzbekistan Airways, the state-owned airline, has placed an order for two new Dreamliner Boeings, media reported. Neither the Uzbek government nor Boeing have confirmed these reports. In August, senior Boeing executives reportedly travelled to Tashkent for meetings with Uzbek government officials.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 150, published on Sept. 2 2013)
