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Responsible AI Rankings: Uzbekistan Leads in Central Asia

The Global Center on AI Governance has published a report titled “Results of the Global Index on Responsible AI in Eastern Europe and Central Asia.” Among Central Asian countries, Uzbekistan has been judged to use artificial intelligence in the most responsible way. Recent AI initiatives in Uzbekistan cover fields including cultural and linguistic diversity, international cooperation, public sector skills development, and transparency. Kazakhstan ranks second in the region. Among Central Asian countries, Kazakhstan ranks first for the number of government initiatives related to responsible AI. Kyrgyzstan ranks third in the region, demonstrating significant non-governmental sector participation in responsible AI. However, the need for a comprehensive government system affects its overall outcome. The report states that the country has received a high rating for responsible AI governance, second only to Uzbekistan in the region. However, due to the scarcity of government frameworks, which, along with government initiatives, had the most weight in the index score, Kyrgyzstan scored lower in the Responsible AI Index. Tajikistan is the only Central Asian country with an AI national strategy aimed at development until 2040. It ranks fourth in the region. However, this strategy covers only 5 out of 19 thematic directions. Tajikistan's scores are relatively high regarding responsible AI governance; however, the country has the most passive non-state sector among the pillars assessed. Turkmenistan has the lowest indicator in the region. Government structures related to the responsible use of artificial intelligence have not been identified in the country.

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Central Asia Turkmenistan Justice Justice Turkmenistan Turkmenistan International Affairs Turkmenistan Local Politics International Affairs Local Politics Turkmenistan Features

Daughter of Civil Activist in Turkmenistan Not Allowed to Leave Country

Sadokat Nurimbetova, the daughter of prominent civil activist Hamida Babajanova, was removed from a Turkmenistan Airlines flight to Istanbul at Ashgabat International Airport, it has been reported. Nurimbetova, an ethnic Uzbek, is a second-year student at Istanbul Medical University, and accordingly she has a valid Turkish residence permit, a “kimlik.” On June 5, Nurimbetova went to her home country to apply for a new passport, which she duly received on July 10, and bought a plane ticket to Istanbul. At passport control, two immigration officials intercepted Nurimbetova and took her to a separate room. There, she was fingerprinted and interrogated, after which the Migration Service officers told the student that she was banned from leaving Turkmenistan. “This is a directive from above," Nurimbetova was told, and was advised not to go anywhere and not to complain to anyone. It was also emphasized to her that her mother should not entertain thoughts of going anywhere. Nurimbetova is the daughter of well-known Turkmen civil activist Hamida Babajanova, who last year defended the right of her elderly mother, Yakujan, to make a pilgrimage to Mecca. Recently, cases of Turkmen citizens being removed from flights abroad without explanation have become more frequent. The same thing is happening when attempting to cross the border by land.

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Kazakhstan Intensifies Efforts to Combat Extremism

There appears to be a small, but growing problem with terrorism and extremism in Kazakhstan. More than 30 people from regions around the country have been detained in Kazakhstan so far in 2024, and in March, Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) killed two Kazakh citizens who were in Russia, allegedly to carry out a terrorist attack. In response, the country’s Committee for National Security (KNB) had conducted dozens of raids. Kazakhstan’s government gave the KNB additional powers to monitor the internet, and authorities are tightening the law on religion. Kazakhstan’s southern neighbors, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan, border Afghanistan. Tajikistan and Uzbekistan have had problems with the Taliban and other militant groups during the last 25 years. These include domestic terrorist groups, the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan and the Tajik-led Jamaat Ansarullah, both of which have been based in northern Afghanistan. Kazakhstan has largely avoided problems with Islamic radicals. Citizens from all the Central Asian states have gone to Afghanistan and Middle Eastern countries to join jihadist groups, including a small number of Kazakh citizens. Turkey extradited a 22-year-old Kazakh citizen back to Kazakhstan on January 27, 2024. The Kazakh national, according to the KNB, was a “native of the Turkestan region [who] went to Syria in 2020, where he joined one of the armed groups operating there.” The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) released a propaganda video in November 2014 that showed Kazakh nationals, including children, in a training camp in Syria. The video described them as “some of our newest brothers from the land of Kazakhstan.” A group of some 25 men whom authorities said were Islamic militants staged attacks in the northwestern Kazakh city of Aktobe, near the Russian border in early June 2016. The group robbed two stores that sold hunting rifles and were involved in shoot-outs with the police and soldiers. At least 25 people were killed, most of them the attackers. Deputies in Kazakhstan’s Mazhilis, the lower house of parliament, voiced concerns in October 2023 that radical forms of Islam were spreading in Kazakhstan. Controversial MP Yermurat Bapi said followers of these radical Islamic groups were taking over bazaars in the Atyrau, Aktobe, Mangystau, Ulytau, and Almaty provinces. Bapi and 13 other deputies called on the government and KNB to take measures against these groups and stem extremist and terrorist propaganda from being disseminated inside Kazakhstan. On February 17, 2024, the KNB staged a combined 49 raids on eight unspecified religious extremist groups in the Aktobe, Atyrau, East Kazakhstan, Zhambyl, West Kazakhstan, Turkestan, and Zhetysu provinces. The KNB said it detained 23 people and seized weapons, ammunition, religious literature, narcotics, and cash. On April 1, 2024, the KNB detained a man in the Caspian coastal city of Aktau and found material for making explosives. According to the KNB, the suspect was a follower of a “radical religious ideology,” and was planning to carry out a terrorist attack.” At the start of July, five people were detained in KNB raids in the Atyrau and...

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Central Asia Uzbekistan Uzbekistan Lead Story Local Politics Business & Economy Kazakhstan Uzbekistan Business & Economy Kazakhstan Business & Economy Uzbekistan Local Politics

How Limits on Electricity Use will Impact Uzbekistan

This year, Uzbekistan implemented reforms aimed at modernizing and optimizing energy consumption, including a new scheme introduced by the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Uzbekistan. Entitled “Additional measures to introduce market mechanisms in the fuel and energy sector,” the scheme comprises a new pricing structure for fuel and energy resources for 2024-2025, alongside revised basic standards for monthly household electricity and natural gas consumption, starting May 1, 2024. Under the new regulations, residents must pay 450 UZS (3.6 cents) for each kilowatt used up to 200 kWh per month and 900 UZS (7.2 cents) for 201 kWh to 1,000 kWh per month. If energy consumption increases, the price changes accordingly. Household consumers living in apartment buildings and dormitories equipped with centralized electric plates for cooking will be charged 225 UZS (1.8 cents) for up to 200 kWh per month, from 201 kWh to 1,000 kWh – 450 UZS (3.6 cents). Negative reaction to the move has been widespread with numerous complaints posted on social networks such as Instagram and Facebook, demanding the cancellation of the limit of up to 200 kWh. One of the key protests is that the number of family members was not considered when setting the limit and that it will need to increase in the colder months of autumn-winter. Residents also commented they will need to save up to pay for their bills and one Facebook post commented that the 200-kWh limit should be cancelled or at least increased to 500 kWh. In response to public outcry, Uzbekistan's Ministry of Energy issued an official statement announcing that there was no reason to revise its decision and reported that since 71% of the population consumed less than 200 kW of electricity in June, the limit was realistic. When interviewed by TCA on the situation, Umida Ahadova from the Navoi region, commented, “Four people live in our family, and electricity is mainly used for housework. Since it is summer, we often use the air conditioner to cool the house. But the electricity consumption rarely exceeds the set limit of 200 kW." Another interviewee Roziboyeva, who shares a rented house in Tashkent with seven friends said, “Eight girls have lived in a 3-room apartment for almost a year, but our energy consumption is only slightly more than 150 kW. That said, we don’t use air conditioners to heat and cool the house." According to the ministerial statement , 1 kWh of electricity costs 895 UZS (7.1 cents) (without VAT). The state reimburses 552.4 UZS (4.4 cents) for each kWh of electricity supplied to the population within the basic norm and 102.1 UZS (0.81 cents) from 201 kW to 1000 kWh. “It should be said that consumers' electricity savings have increased due to increasing tariffs, " claimed the ministry. " As a result, the load on the system is reduced, people’s electricity systems are cut, and accidents are also decreasing." Research conducted by Asia-Plus last year showed that Kazakhstan has the highest electricity tariff among Central Asian countries....

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Central Asia Life & Culture Kazakhstan Local Politics Kazakhstan Justice Local Politics Kazakhstan

Nursultan Nazarbayev Stripped of Academy of Sciences Membership

News that the first president of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev, has been stripped of his status as a member of the Academy of Sciences of Kazakhstan, was announced by Minister of Science and Higher Education, Sayasat Nurbek. Nurbek explained that in 2023, Kazakhstan's current president, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, decided to create a new Academy of Sciences with just nine members and in the process, 'reset' the status of former academy members. Nursultan Nazarbayev was awarded the status of academician of the Academy of Sciences of Kazakhstan in 1995 and in 2011, whilst participating in a scientific forum at the academy, received the honourable title of “Scientist of the Century.” The loss of his membership of the academy is the most recent example of Nazarbayev's fall from grace. In July last year, he was deprived of his position as head of the supreme board of trustees of autonomous educational organizations. Then, this spring, a waxwork of the first president, installed six years ago in the State Military History Museum of the Armed Forces of Kazakhstan in Astana, disappeared. Previously, the monument to Nursultan Nazarbayev, inaugurated on his 80th birthday in 2020, was dismantled from the territory of the National Defense University in Astana, in tandem with the removal of another memorial to the man from the National Museum.

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Central Asia Education International Affairs Kyrgyzstan International Affairs Local Politics Kyrgyzstan Business & Economy Kyrgyzstan Local Politics Kyrgyzstan Business & Economy

Kyrgyz Labor Migrants Now Welcome in Sardinia

The Center for Employment of Citizens Abroad has signed a partnership agreement with the Italian association of farmers, Coldiretti Sardegna, which stipulates that labor migrants from Kyrgyzstan can work in Sardinia. The Italian association is interested in attracting Kyrgyz citizens to work in agriculture, with preference being given to married couples. A representative from the Center for Employment of Citizens Abroad stated that “social packages were discussed, including housing, legal presence, and health insurance. Moreover, after moving to Italy, employers expressed that training in the Italian language will be provided.” Baktybek Kudaberdiyev, director of the Center, said this is the first agreement with Italian companies on hiring Kyrgyz people. “We are confident that this agreement will become the basis for successful and long-term cooperation, benefiting both sides,” Kudaberdiyev stated. The cooperation agreement was organized by the Kyrgyz ambassador to Italy, Taalai Bazarbayev. Coldiretti Sardegna is a trade union representing Italian enterprises working in Sardinia's agriculture and agri-food sectors.

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