| May 1-May 8, 1999 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
Iranian Foreign Minister meets Islam Karimov
| |
|  he Uzbek President, Islam Karimov, has had talks with
the visiting Iranian foreign minister, Kamal Kharrazi.
The Iranian news agency reported that the two
discussed regional cooperation.
The agency said Mr Karimov expressed support for Iran's
policy in Afghanistan, saying the Taleban movement
would not bring peace there.
They also discussed closer economic ties, with Mr
Karimov expressing interest in improved road and rail
links, and the possible use of Iranian ports. Mr Kharrazi
is in Uzbekistan on a two day visit.
|
|
Bulgarian President to visit Uzbekistan
| |
|  resident of Bulgaria Petr Stoyanov will pay an official visit to Uzbekistan on May 7 and 8 at the invitation of President Islam Karimov. Earlier the two presidents met during Islam Karimov's official visit to Bulgaria last June.
|
|
Azerbaijani official hints at further expansion of GUUAM
| |
|  zerbaijani State Foreign Policy advisor Vafa Guluzade told
Turan on 3 May that Poland and Romania are interested in
joining the Georgia-Ukraine-Uzbekistan-Azerbaijan-Moldova
alignment in the near future. He added that GUUAM is expected
to intensify its activities and hold meetings with the heads
of state of countries that have expressed an interest in
membership. Talks are under way on the optimum location for
the organization's headquarters and the formation of its
Secretariat, Guluzade added. In related news, a delegation
from the Romanian Defense Ministry and military-industrial
complex visited Georgia last week to discuss areas of future
cooperation, Caucasus Press reported.
|
|
No progress in Kyrgyz-Uzbek gas talks
| |
| oktosun Abduvaliev,
who is deputy director of the Kyrgyzgas state gas company,
told RFE/RL's Bishkek bureau on 17 April that although talks
are continuing with Uzbekistan, a swift resumption of natural
gas deliveries from that country is unlikely. Abduvaliev said
Kyrgyzstan owes Uzbekistan $4.5 million for gas deliveries
but cannot pay that debt because enterprises in Kyrgyzstan
owe Kyrgyzgas some 218 million soms (about $6.5 million).
Uzbekistan halted supplies of gas to Kyrgyzstan two weeks
ago.
|
|
Uzbekistan's economy slowing down
| |
| he head of the Asian
Development Bank's Tashkent office, Nagaradja Gnanathurai,
predicted on 26 April that Uzbekistan's industrial output
will decline in 1999, Interfax reported. Gnanathurai noted
that while the impact on Uzbekistan of the Russian economic
crisis was less severe than on other countries in the region,
GDP grew by only 2.8 percent in 1998, compared with 5.7
percent the previous year. In addition, the Uzbek som lost in
value, while the country's foreign debt rose to $2.8 billion.
The ADB approved loans to Uzbekistan last year totaling $110
million. Uzbekistan's GDP increased by 2.9 percent during the
first quarter of 1999, while the budget deficit was on target
at 1.1 percent, Interfax reported on 19 April, quoting Deputy
Prime Minister Bakhtiar Khamidov.
|
|
Uzbekistan restores gas supplies to Kazakhstan
| |
|  zbekistan
has resumed supplies of natural gas to three oblasts of
southern Kazakhstan, RFE/RL's Almaty bureau reported on 29
April. Those supplies were cut earlier this month because of
non-payment of debts, and Kazakhstan responded by halting
rail traffic from Uzbekistan and pointing to Uzbekistan's
unpaid debts (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 23 April 1999). The two
sides subsequently agreed to resume both natural gas
deliveries and rail transit, but they have so far made little
progress on clearing mutual debts.
|
|
First Kurash World championship in Tashkent
| |
| he capital of Uzbekistan, Tashkent, hosted the first ever kurash world championship. Kurash is an Uzbek wrestling that has existed in this part of the world for centuries. Athletes from 43 countries, including the United States, Russia, Iran and Turkey, visited Tashkent to try themselves in this ancient type of wrestling. Among them were European and World judo medalists. This year's competition was held in three weight categories: 73 and 90 kg as well as an open weight category. Uzbekistan was represented by its best judo and kurash wrestlers in all three categories. By the end of the first day, a first champion of the first Kurash world championship became known. To the great cheer of Uzbek fans, it was an Uzbek wrestler. In the 90 kg weight class, Komil Murodov defeated his countrymen, silver medalist of the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, Armen Bagdasarov. After two days of tedious fights, fans learned the names of winners in two remaining weight classes. For Uzbekistan, the host of the first world kurash championship and home of kurash, it was important that its athletes demonstrate high skills. And they did not let their fans down. After the remaining two pair of finalists consisted of Uzbek athletes, the doubt faded out that all three gold and silver medals would stay in Uzbekistan. Akobir Qurbonov (73 kg) and Toshtemir Muhammadiev (open weight class) became two other winners. Among bronze medalists were only two foreigners, wrestlers from Brazil. Kurash is a "belt wrestling." Wrestlers can catch each other by two hands or by one, lift and throw. No ground fighting, striking or kicking is allowed in kurash which makes it a just fight. Throws may be executed over the legs, but not by legs. Catching the legs is rare too. Fight is finished when opponent has to touch the ground "in the third point".
|
|
Uzbekistan to free 12,000 prisoners under amnesty
| |
| he president of the Central Asian nation of
Uzbekistan issued an amnesty today that will grant freedom to about 12,000
inmates in coming weeks.
Those to be freed will include war veterans, inmates over the age of 60, those who
committed their crimes when they were minors, and foreign citizens, according to
the bill released by President Islam Karimov's office.
Police will draft a list of who will be released within the next two months.
The amnesty is linked to the May 9 holiday, which was celebrated as World War
II victory day when Uzbekistan was part of the Soviet Union.
From now on, the holiday will be called the Day of Memory and Honor, the
president's bill said.
The authoritarian Karimov has issued periodic large-scale amnesties. The most
recent was last October when 10,000 prisoners were released.
|
|
Uzbek court to try Tashkent bombers soon
| |
| he investigators will submit to
court in early May their findings in the case of the February 16
terrorist bombings in Tashkent, Uzbek President Islam Karimov said at a
news conference in Tashkent on Tuesday.
The explosions killed 16 people and injured over 100.
The investigation is moving at full speed, Karimov said. Cases of
"20 criminals involved in the terrorist attack" will be submitted to
court, which will hold public sessions, he said.
The men to be tried in court are chiefly perpetrators and
accomplices but, "unfortunately, not the organizers of the crime, who
are on the run outside Uzbekistan," Karimov said.
One of the organizers is religious extremist leader Takhir
Yuldashev, born in Namangan, who is in Afghanistan; the other is
Mukhammad Salikh, who unsuccessfully ran for the presidency against
Karimov in 1991. Both are on Interpol's wanted list.
The bombings were ordered by extremists using Islam "to hijack
Uzbekistan. They rely on immature youths to set up a caliphate, or a
pan-Islamic state. They will not stop at any crime for this mythical
goal," Karimov said.
"We want to create a democratic, secular state relying on the
mentality and traditions of our nation," he said.
|
|
EBRD President to visit Central Asian states in June
| |
| resident of the European Bank
for Reconstruction and Development Horst Koehler plans to visit
Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan at the beginning of June.
He said in an interview with the Interfax Financial Information
Agency on Tuesday that "Central Asia is a very important region for the
EBRD. We do not intend to concentrate our investment exclusively in
Central and Eastern Europe and in Russia," he said.
He added that in 2003 the annual meeting of EBRD shareholders will
be held in Uzbekistan. "For the first time ever, a meeting of EBRD
shareholders will be held in a Central Asian state," he said.
Koehler said that "the Central Asian region has great potential
which is not exclusively due to its rich natural resources."
"Central Asia is a bridge between Europe and Asia. Building bridges
is one of the EBRD's main functions," he said.
He announced that in Central Asia the bank will mostly focus on the
local financial and banking sector, support small and medium businesses
and invest in infrastructure and agri-industrial projects. "In the
industrial sector we are considering participation in the restructuring
of some of the Central Asian states' oil industries and in other
mineral-resource branches if the local governments find it promising,"
he said.
Assessing the situation in individual countries, Koehler said that
Kyrgyzstan is steadily advancing towards macroeconomic stabilization and
is making progress in economic restructuring in close cooperation with
international financial organizations. "In my opinion, Kyrgyzstan is a
good example of a country with a favorable investment climate, where the
EBRD may play a great role by drawing direct foreign investments," he
said.
In regard to the economic situation in Kazakhstan, he said that he
welcomes "the Kazakh Central Bank's recent decision to introduce a
floating rate of the tenge. This is a correct decision. And even though
many had fears that this may cause a serious devaluation of the national
currency, the resolute measures taken by the Kazakh government have
enhanced the investors' trust in Kazakhstan."
He said that the EBRD had invested in 41 Central Asian projects
worth about $1 billion and is the largest investor in the region.
| E-mail me on: | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||