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Central Asia + Japan

Mirziyoyev Begins Japan Visit With Central Asia Leaders’ Reception in Tokyo

President Shavkat Mirziyoyev of Uzbekistan began his visit to Japan on Thursday by attending an official reception hosted by Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi at the Akasaka Palace in Tokyo. The event marked the opening of a series of engagements bringing together the leaders of Central Asia and Japan, with a focus on strengthening regional cooperation. The reception brought together the presidents of all five Central Asian states. Alongside Mirziyoyev were President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev of Kazakhstan, President Sadyr Japarov of Kyrgyzstan, President Emomali Rahmon of Tajikistan, and President Serdar Berdimuhamedov of Turkmenistan. The gathering underscored Japan’s effort to engage the region as a group, rather than solely through bilateral ties. Mirziyoyev’s presence at the Akasaka Palace, a venue reserved for state-level diplomacy, highlighted Uzbekistan’s growing role in Central Asia and its expanding foreign policy outreach beyond the immediate region. In recent years, Tashkent has sought to deepen ties with Asian partners, including Japan, in areas ranging from infrastructure and energy to education and technology. According to the visit programme, Mirziyoyev will hold high-level talks with Japanese government officials on December 20. Those discussions are expected to focus on trade and investment, technological cooperation, and sustainable development, including green energy and climate resilience. Japan has been a long-standing development partner for Uzbekistan, providing loans, grants, and technical assistance through agencies such as the Japan International Cooperation Agency. The visit will feature the inaugural leaders-level “Central Asia + Japan” Dialogue Summit, bringing all six sides together in a multilateral format. The summit is intended to build on earlier dialogue mechanisms and explore joint approaches to economic connectivity, regional stability, and long-term growth. For Mirziyoyev, the Tokyo meetings offer an opportunity to reinforce Uzbekistan’s reform agenda on an international stage and to position the country as an active participant in shaping Central Asia’s collective engagement with major partners such as Japan.

Sanctions

UK Adds Uzbekistan-Based Companies and Tashkent Businessman to Russia Sanctions List

Britain has expanded its Russia sanctions regime to include four companies based in Uzbekistan and one Tashkent-born businessman, according to official documents published on 18 December 2025. The measures form part of a wider update that added 24 new individuals and entities to the UK’s consolidated sanctions list under the Russia (Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019. The update was set out in a Financial Sanctions Notice issued by HM Treasury and an accompanying Foreign Office policy paper, “List of Russia sanctions targets, 18 December 2025.” The documents confirm that all newly designated names are now subject to an asset freeze and associated financial restrictions in the UK. The four Uzbekistan-linked companies named in the notice are Fargona Kimyo Zavodi LLC, also listed under the English alias Fergana Chemical Plant; Gelion Business Trade MCHJ, registered in Tashkent; Raw Materials Cellulose MCHJ, based in the Jizzakh region; and LLC JV Chemistry International, located in the Navoi region. Each company is subject to an asset freeze, requiring that any funds or economic resources they own or control in the UK be frozen and that UK persons do not make funds or resources available to them without a licence. The Treasury notice also applies restrictions on trust services. Under UK sanctions law, this restricts UK persons from providing trust services to or for the benefit of designated persons unless an exemption applies or a licence is granted. Compliance guidance is published by the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation and linked through the British government’s Sanctions List. The documents do not provide detailed descriptions of the companies’ commercial activities, instead using standard statutory wording. In each case, the Secretary of State notes that there are reasonable grounds to suspect the entity “is or has been involved in destabilising Ukraine or undermining or threatening the territorial integrity, sovereignty or independence of Ukraine,” including by making available goods or technologies that could contribute to those outcomes. The sanctions update also includes Rustam Muminov, born in Tashkent in 1953. The Treasury notice lists his nationalities as Uzbek, Israeli, and Russian. Muminov is subject to an asset freeze and trust services restrictions, with the reason stated being that the British authorities have reasonable grounds to suspect he has been involved in destabilizing Ukraine by providing financial services or by making available funds, economic resources, goods, or technology. The Foreign Office policy paper groups the new designations with others added on the same date, which include entities linked to Russia’s energy sector, financial circumvention, and the military-industrial complex. The government says the measures are intended to limit access to financial services and resources that could support Russia’s actions against Ukraine.

Macroeconomic Review

EDB Forecasts Strong Economic Growth in 2026 for Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan

On December 18, the Eurasian Development Bank (EDB) published its Macroeconomic Outlook for 2026-2028, reviewing recent economic developments and offering projections for its seven member states: Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. According to the report, aggregate GDP growth across the EDB region is forecast to reach 2.3% in 2026. Kyrgyzstan (9.3%), Tajikistan (8.1%), Uzbekistan (6.8%), and Kazakhstan (5.5%) are expected to remain the region’s fastest-growing economies. After two years of rapid expansion, the region’s GDP growth is set to moderate to 1.9% in 2025, down from 4.5% in 2024, mainly due to a slowdown in Russia’s economy. Although lower oil prices are expected to reduce export revenues for energy exporters such as Kazakhstan and Russia, the impact on overall growth will be limited. Meanwhile, net oil importers, including Armenia, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan, will benefit from improved terms of trade and reduced inflationary pressure. High global gold prices will support foreign exchange earnings for key regional exporters, including Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. The report also notes a gradual decline in the U.S. dollar’s share in central bank reserves across the region, though its role in international settlements remains stable. Kazakhstan Kazakhstan’s economy is projected to grow by 5.5% in 2026, supported by the implementation of the National Infrastructure Plan and the state program “Order for Investment,” which are expected to cushion the effects of lower oil prices. Growth in non-commodity exports will also play a stabilizing role. Inflation is forecast to decline to 9.7% by the end of 2026, after peaking early in the year due to a value-added tax (VAT) increase. The average tenge exchange rate is expected to be KZT 535 per U.S. dollar, underpinned by a high base interest rate and rising export revenues. Kyrgyzstan Kyrgyzstan is forecast to lead the region in GDP growth at 9.3% in 2026, driven by higher investment in transport, energy, water infrastructure, and housing construction. Inflation is expected to ease to 8.3%, although further declines will be constrained by higher tariffs and excise taxes. The average exchange rate is projected at KGS 89.2 per U.S. dollar, supported by robust remittance inflows and high global gold prices, gold being the country’s main export commodity. Tajikistan Tajikistan is projected to maintain high GDP growth of 8.1% in 2026, fueled by capacity expansion in the energy and manufacturing sectors, along with rising prices for gold and non-ferrous metals. Inflation is expected to reach 4.5% by year-end. The somoni is expected to remain stable, with an average exchange rate of TJS 9.8 per U.S. dollar, supported by growth in exports and remittances. Uzbekistan Uzbekistan’s economy is forecast to expand by 6.8% in 2026, sustained by strong investment activity and favorable gold prices. Inflation is projected to decline to 6.7%, helped by tight monetary policy and a stable exchange rate. The average soum exchange rate is expected to be UZS 12,800 per U.S. dollar, supported by high remittances and increased metal exports.

Turkmen Music

From the Central Asian Steppe to Manhattan: A Turkmen Bard in New York

A halal Chinese Muslim restaurant in New York City is an unlikely setting for a concert by a highly acclaimed bard of the Turkmen tradition. Yet on a Saturday afternoon in Manhattan’s Kips Bay neighborhood, before an audience of attentive listeners and curious onlookers peering through the window, the multi-award-winning Mohammad Geldi Geldi Nejad filled Beef Up Noodle with sustained melodic phrases and guttural embellishments. At times, his dexterous strumming of the dutar, a two-stringed long-necked lute, deliberately mimicked the rhythm of galloping horse hooves central to the Turkmen bardic style. Mohammad was raised in the Turkmen community of Gonbad-e Kavus in northeastern Iran. At age ten, he became only the second musician ever to receive the honorary title Oghlan Bakhshi, meaning Child Bard. His musical education in Turkmen bardic traditions began in early childhood, before more formal training in Turkmenistan’s capital, Ashgabat. Turkmen culture, shaped by a nomadic heritage, extends across Turkmenistan, Iran, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, and Kazakhstan, with smaller populations in Turkey, Iraq, and the North Caucasus. It draws on nomadic traditions where performance serves as a primary vehicle of cultural expression. Central Asian music and culture, carried by diasporic communities from these regions, has found a growing audience in the United States. Turkmen traditions, however, given the minuscule size of the Turkmen population in the U.S., remain largely unfamiliar to most audiences. [video width="848" height="478" mp4="https://timesca.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/WhatsApp-Video-2025-12-17-at-18.16.28.mp4"][/video] Even so, Mohammad has brought his music to audiences beyond Turkmenistan and Iran, performing in parts of Europe and the U.S., including recent concerts at the Lowell Folk Festival in Massachusetts and at Roulette in Brooklyn. At the latter, he offered Western listeners rare access to a musical lineage sustained within a family across generations. Performing under his honorific alias Oghlan Bakhshi, he appeared alongside his father, the gyjak, or spike fiddle, master Abdolghaffar Geldinejad, and his wife and regular musical collaborator, Zyyada Jumayeva, a dutar player who represents the female bardic tradition of Turkmenistan. His album Journey Across the Steppes is the first international release of Turkmen folk music in 30 years. His work has also been documented in a book series, The Music of Central Asia. At Beef Up Noodle, Mohammad’s performance, titled Songs of the Bakhshi: Turkmen Bardic Heritage, formed part of a broader curatorial landscape shaped by ethnomusicologist Mu Qian, whose work spans scholarship, publishing, and community-based music making. From Zayton to New York is the concert series he curates, exploring how music travels through histories of migration and exchange. Mohammad’s appearance opened a Central Asian trilogy within the series, to be followed by programs devoted to Kyrgyz and Kazakh musical traditions in early 2026. This trilogy represents one strand of Mu Qian’s wider mission, developed through the See & Sea Cultural Foundation, to support minority musicians and bring underrepresented musical cultures from across Asia into conversation with audiences beyond their places of origin. [caption id="attachment_41154" align="aligncenter" width="1283"] Mu Qian with Mohammad Geldi Geldi Nejad; image: Paul Adams[/caption] British expat Margaret Murray, an audience member whose chance meeting...

Central Asia + Japan

Japan Opens First Leaders-Level Summit With Central Asia

Japan hosted its first leaders-level summit with the five Central Asian republics on Friday, marking a diplomatic advance in a relationship that has existed for more than two decades but has rarely drawn wide attention. Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi opened the “Central Asia + Japan” summit in Tokyo, with discussions set to continue through December 20. The summit elevates a dialogue that until now has been conducted mainly at foreign ministers’ or senior diplomatic levels. Japan launched the original “Central Asia + Japan” initiative in 2004 to build cooperation with the Central Asian states through economic, educational, and political channels. In a bilateral meeting linked to the summit, Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi met with his Tajik counterpart Sirojiddin Muhriddin, with the two sides agreeing on a cooperation program covering 2026–2028 and an investment treaty. These agreements represent the most concrete, publicly documented outcomes from the summit’s opening day and highlight Japan’s focus on strengthening bilateral ties alongside the broader multilateral dialogue. In parallel with the leaders’ meeting, Japan is hosting a “Central Asia + Japan” business forum organized by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry to promote trade and private-sector cooperation. The leaders’ summit follows high-level bilateral diplomacy earlier in the week. On December 18, Prime Minister Takaichi met Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev in Tokyo, where the two leaders signed a strategic partnership statement focused on energy, critical minerals, and expanded cooperation. Central Asia’s geopolitical significance has increased in recent years as its governments pursue multi-vector foreign policies aimed at broadening their external partnerships beyond traditional ties with Russia and China. Japan’s decision to elevate its dialogue with the region reflects this shift and Tokyo’s effort to remain an active partner amid growing engagement from the European Union, the United States, South Korea, and others. For Friday, the summit’s significance lies less in headline announcements than in its symbolism and early bilateral outcomes. The opening confirmed Japan’s intent to engage Central Asia at the highest political level, with broader commitments expected once the leaders conclude their talks and release a joint statement or action plan.

Podcast

Pannier and Hillard’s Spotlight on Central Asia: New Episode Available Now

As Managing Editor of The Times of Central Asia, I’m delighted that, in partnership with the Oxus Society for Central Asian Affairs, from October 19, we are the home of the Spotlight on Central Asia podcast. Chaired by seasoned broadcasters Bruce Pannier of RFE/RL’s long-running Majlis podcast and Michael Hillard of The Red Line, each fortnightly instalment will take you on a deep dive into the latest news, developments, security issues, and social trends across an increasingly pivotal region. This week, we're unpacking Turkmenistan's Neutrality Summit, a rare moment where a string of big names quietly rolled into Ashgabat, and where the public messaging mattered just as much as the backroom deals. We'll also cut through the noise on the latest reporting from the Tajik–Afghan border, where misinformation is colliding with real security developments on the ground. From there, we'll take a hard look at the results of Kyrgyzstan's elections, what they actually tell us about where Bishkek is heading next, and what they don't, before examining the looming power rationing now shaping daily life and political pressure in two Central Asian states. And to wrap it up, we're joined by two outstanding experts for a frank conversation on gendered violence in Central Asia: what's changing, what isn't, and why the official statistics may only capture a fraction of the reality. On the show this week: Daryana Gryaznova (Equality Now) Svetlana Dzardanova (Human Rights and Corruption Researcher)