International Affairs - The Times Of Central Asia

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China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan Railway

China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan Railway Company Opened in Bishkek

On September 28, LLC China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan Railway Company opened in Bishkek for the purpose of constructing and operating a line connecting the three countries. The opening ceremony was attended by the Chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers of the Kyrgyz Republic, Akylbek Japarov, the Chinese Ambassador to Kyrgyzstan, Du Dewen, high-ranking officials from the Department of Foreign Capital and Overseas Investment of China’s National Development and Reform Commission, and Uzbekistan’s Minister of Transport, Ilkhom Makhkamov. Emphasizing the railway's importance for the region, Japarov stated: "We call this project ‘the construction of the century.’ It will take economic cooperation between China and Central Asian countries to a qualitatively new level." Currently, neither Kyrgyzstan nor Uzbekistan has a rail link with China, with Central Asia only having a connection to China through Kazakhstan. Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan also have no railway connecting the two countries. China, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan signed an intergovernmental agreement on the railway construction project on June 6 in Beijing. As previously reported by The Times of Central Asia, the 523 km railway will run through Kashgar (China), Torugart, Makmal, Jalal-Abad (Kyrgyzstan), and Andijan (Uzbekistan). A transit and logistics infrastructure will be developed along the route. Once completed, the line will see 15 million tons of cargo annually. In June, Akylbek Japarov confirmed a statement made by Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov in April 2024, stating that the railway construction would cost $8 billion as opposed to the preliminarily estimate of $4.7billion.

Environment

UNESCO Concerned About Plans to Develop Western Tien Shan

UNESCO has expressed concern over the plans of Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan to develop natural areas of the Western Tien Shan, a World Natural Heritage site. This concern was realized after a visit by UNESCO and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), which was a joint mission to these countries to assess the state of the site and the impact of economic activity on it. The public foundation (PF) “Rivers Without Borders” stated this in its report. According to UNESCO, the “Western Tien Shan” is a transboundary site in the Central Asian Tien Shan mountain system, one of the seven largest mountain ranges in the world. The altitude of different sections of the Western Tien Shan varies from 700 to 4503 meters. The site consists of diverse landscapes characterized by a vibrant biodiversity. The Western Tien Shan region is important globally as it is the birthplace of several fruit tree species and is characterized by diverse forest types and unique plant life. In Kyrgyzstan, evidence of the illegal mining of gold within the territory of the World Heritage Site was revealed. In addition, a powerful hydroelectric power plant is planned to be built on the Chatkal River, which may flood protected areas and disrupt the landscape. The construction of the Talas-Chatkal-Tashkent highway along the reservoir will only aggravate the ecological situation. In Kazakhstan, the authorities plan to build a cascade of hydropower plants on the Ugam River, which could destroy the current river ecosystem. Part of the river's flow will be directed through a 210-kilometer pipe for use in other regions of Turkestan region. Experts expressed severe concerns about destroying the natural ecosystem and possible consequences for local flora and fauna. The situation is no less alarming in Uzbekistan: the Chatkal and Ugam rivers have already been dammed, significantly altering their natural landscape. During the visit, the experts said that bulldozers and excavators are already changing the course of the Ugam River, channeling it into artificial channels to construct several small hydropower plants. Rivers Without Borders also oppose these projects, pointing out that they violate international standards and UNESCO requirements. The organization's chief specialist, Evgeny Simonov, stressed that implementing the projects without appropriate environmental assessments and consultations with UNESCO violates the Convention for the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage. The report on the mission's results is expected to be presented at the next session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee in 2025 in Sofia, Bulgaria.

Environment

United States Supports Uzbekistan’s Methane Reduction Efforts

The U.S. Embassy in Uzbekistan reports that a joint project between GasGreen Asia LLC, a subsidiary of Maryland-based Climate Compass, and Uzbekistan’s national gas distribution company, Hududgazta’minot JSC, has been engaged in detecting and repairing natural gas leaks within the country’s national gas distribution system. This project contributes to the country’s green economy transition and commitments under the Global Methane Pledge. Climate Compass, LLC is a world leader in providing logistical and technical services for greenhouse gas emissions reduction projects. A Korean carbon finance company, Ecoeye Co., Ltd., is the principal investor of the project, which began in March 2023. Since the project’s inception, over 50,000 individual methane leaks have been identified, measured, and repaired, reducing over seven million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions per year. The project has created more than 200 local jobs, including engineers, data specialists, and project managers, who received intensive training from American technical experts. The repairs have generated tens of millions of dollars in savings for Hududgazta’minot by preventing gas losses and contributing to significant environmental benefits. At the September 24 event highlighting the project’s significant achievements, U.S. Ambassador to Uzbekistan Jonathan Henick said: “The United States welcomes Uzbekistan’s commitment to a broad-based transition to a green economy. This project supports Uzbekistan’s efforts to attract foreign direct investment while reducing greenhouse gas emissions.” According to Henick, the United States strongly supported Uzbekistan’s decision to join the Global Methane Pledge in 2022, an initiative to reduce methane emissions worldwide. Methane reduction is critical to Uzbekistan’s efforts to meet its nationally determined contributions under the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. According to the United Nations Environment Program, methane emissions have accounted for approximately 30 percent of global warming and are an increasingly growing challenge. According to the “Methane in Central Asia: Emissions, Trends, Actions” report, Uzbekistan’s annual greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions remained largely stable and declined slightly over the past 15 years, ranging between 180 and 200 million tons of CO2-equivalent or 5 tons per person. The report says the country’s energy sector is responsible for 75–80 percent of GHG emissions, including 50 percent from fuel combustion and 25–30 percent from methane leaks in the coal, oil, and gas sectors, the equivalent of 50 million tons of CO2. Uzbekistan has successfully decoupled GHG emissions from economic growth and intends to reduce the specific GHG emissions per GDP by 35 percent by 2030 compared to the 2010 level.

CSTO

The Illusion of Influence: The CSTO’s Journey From Symbolic Maneuvers To Real Challenges

Accompanied by a picture of military hardware - though in reverse gear as if symbolically - today, the CSTO (Collective Security Treaty Organization) website announced that “From 26 to 30 September, formations participating in the command-staff exercise 'Unbreakable Brotherhood-2024' with the CSTO Peacekeeping Forces are regrouping in the Republic of Kazakhstan. Contingents of CSTO troops are being sent from the Republic of Belarus, the Kyrgyz Republic, the Russian Federation, and the Republic of Tajikistan to the exercise area in accordance with the plan.” In reality, the history of the CSTO is one of refusals, inaction, and sometimes unexpected successes. On August 31, Armenia announced it had frozen its participation in the CSTO. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said he would not name the day when Armenia would leave the CSTO and called the decision to freeze the republic's participation in all structures of the organization correct “at this stage.” In many ways, this half-hearted decision reflects a certain amorphousness that originally characterized the CSTO. History The history of the structure's emergence reflects this lack of crystalline form. The Collective Security Treaty (CST) was signed in Tashkent between Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan on May 15, 1992. Azerbaijan, Belarus and Georgia later joined in 1993. The treaty came into effect in 1994 and was set to last five years. During the 1990s and the disintegration of Soviet-era institutions, organizations such as the CSTO or the previously created Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), whose founding protocol was signed in Almaty, were created to facilitate a smooth “divorce” between the newly independent states. The CSTO was also seen as a force capable of curbing the regional conflicts which were boiling over, such as the Mujaheddin in Afghanistan. Tashkent's bet on Russian weapons in case of conflicts with the Taliban did not work out, however. From the turn of the 1990s into the 2000s, two serious fissures across the borders of Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan took place; the republics fought back with their own military and weapons, in addition to Kazakhstan coming to the rescue. The Collective Security Treaty expired in 1999, with Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, and Georgia withdrawing, whilst Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Tajikistan soldiered on under a new pact. The remaining states later transformed the CST into the Collective Security Treaty Organization in 2002. Uzbekistan joined as a full member of the CSTO in 2006 but then flip-flopped and suspended its membership in 2012. A powerless organization While the CSTO was still developing, with President Vladimir Putin coming to power in Russia, the Kremlin's foreign policy changed substantively from that of the Yeltsin era, when Moscow remained indifferent to Nursultan Nazarbayev's integration initiatives. The new direction of Russian foreign policy was expressed in the concepts of “Russia rising from its knees” and the "gathering of lands.” Over time, this evolved into joint war games and military operations with the West in the Middle East and Africa, and for a period the Kremlin seemed to lose interest in Central Asia....

Corruption

Uzbekistan Implicated in U.S. Investigation of NYC Mayor Eric Adams

Uzbekistan has been implicated in a serious investigation into the sources of donations to New York City Mayor Eric Adams’ 2021 campaign. The investigation appears to be intensifying, a source said, after federal prosecutors issued subpoenas to his team members, including the mayor himself, in July. The US investigation into the mayor of New York spans six countries. It includes Adams’ ties to Turkey, Israel, Qatar, China, South Korea, and Uzbekistan. The big question investigators are trying to answer is whether his 2021 mayoral campaign conspired with Turkey’s government to receive illegal foreign donations, and whether the fire department was pressured to approve a new high-rise Turkish consulate despite safety concerns. Prosecutors seek additional information on Adams' relations with the other countries, including Uzbekistan – the only one of the six that Adams has not visited.

Agriculture

Chinese Company to Build Sugar Substitutes Plant in Kazakhstan

Chinese state company CITIC Construction plans to invest more than 1 billion dollars in constructing a plant for deep grain processing in the Almaty region. The agreement was reached during the meeting of the Vice-Minister of Agriculture of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Ermek Kenzhekhanuly, with representatives from the Chinese delegation. The parties discussed the development of Kazakhstan's agro-industrial complex and details of the project to build a production line for deep wheat processing with an annual capacity of 300,000 tons. The enterprise will produce maltose, fructose, crystalline fructose, allulose, crystalline dextrose, sodium gluconate, gluten by-products, and feed. The project will be realized in the Kazbek bi-industrial zone in the Almaty region. CITIC Construction's total investment will be about $1.07 billion, and the total value of its products will be $1.87 billion. More than 2,000 jobs will be created. In mid-July, the Ministry of Agriculture of Kazakhstan signed an agreement with Chinese companies CITIC Construction and Beijing Capital Agro to attract $600 million in investment to develop beef cattle breeding in the country. The funds will be used to establish feedlots, with the partnership expected to involve more than 600 farms and existing feedlots. China is Kazakhstan's leading trading partner. At the end of 2023, agricultural exports from Kazakhstan to China doubled and reached $1 billion. In 2023, the volume of bilateral trade turnover amounted to $41 billion, and Kazakhstan intends to double this figure. In addition, Beijing is one of the leading foreign investors in Kazakhstan, having invested about $25 billion in its economy over the past 15 years.