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Remittances to Uzbekistan from Russia have decreased by 68 % in the first quarter in 2024. Declining remittances have been observed since 2023, when Uzbeks working in Russia sent $8.58 billion home. According to experts at the World Bank, the reasons for the decline were several: a decrease in the number of migrant workers in Russia, devaluation of the ruble, and inflation keeping more of labor migrants' income in Russia to fund their basic needs. Uzbekistan became the leading nation in receiving remittances from Kazakhstan in 2023, at $588.62 million for the year. Remittances from Uzbeks living and working abroad account for 17.8% of the country's (gross domestic product) GDP. Uzbekistan continues to actively support labor migrants who wish to find employment abroad, offering them reimbursement for tickets and professional certification costs, and offering training in various professions and languages, as well as material and legal assistance. In parallel, the state is opening new markets for labor migration - among them Germany, Britain, Japan, South Korea, and Israel. Citizens of Uzbekistan with the appropriate qualifications and language skills can earn salaries abroad of $1,000-$1,500 per month.
The Asian Women's Forum will be held in Samarkand this May, where participants will discuss the situation surrounding women's rights in the countries of Central and Southeast Asia. The forum will discuss issues related to expanding women's rights, and reducing poverty in the region by involving women in entrepreneurship. Sessions will pay special attention to the role of parliaments in stimulating women's participation in business, gender-oriented budgeting, elimination of gender disparity, and eradication of all forms of violence against women and children. The participants will also focus on modern approaches and best practices in promoting the green economy, the impact of climate change on gender issues in the region -- as well as protection of women's rights and interests. Women are now a driving force in all aspects of life in Central Asia. Addressing the 78th session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women in New York, Chairwoman of the Senate of the Oliy Majlis (bicameral parliament) of Uzbekistan Tanzila Narbayeva said that "the attitude towards women has fundamentally changed in the country. Much attention is [being] paid to their education, mastering professions and foreign languages -- as well as to the development of women's entrepreneurship." To date, Uzbekistan has adopted more than 40 legal and regulatory acts to improve the status of women in society, established the National Agency for Social Protection, which, among other things, provides targeted assistance to women and works specifically on the social adaptation of women returned from conflict zones in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan.
Uzbekistan exported gold worth $2.66 billion in the first quarter (January-March) of 2024. In 1Q 2024, Uzbekistan's total foreign trade turnover amounted to $15.8 billion, which is almost $1 billion (6.2%) more than in the same period in 2023. Exports increased by 10% to $6.38 billion, and imports increased to $9.44 billion. The foreign trade deficit decreased slightly and amounted to $3.05 billion, which is $232.2 million less than in 2023. In 1Q 2024, gold exports increased by 10.5% annually and amounted to $2.66 billion -- in 1Q 2023, the figure was $2.41 billion. Revenues from gold exports comprised 41.7% of the country’s total exports. More than $1.35 billion worth of gold was exported in March, or nearly the same amount as in February ($1.32 billion). Looking at the total annual figures, in 2023 Uzbekistan's total export volume was $24.4 billion. Of that sum, 33.4%, or $8.1 billion, was accounted for by gold exports.
According to the agricultural trade publication East Fruit, Central Asians have little taste for bananas. Kazakhstan has the highest consumption rate but with an average of 4.5 kg of fresh bananas eaten per person, per year, comes nowhere near Uganda where each year, individuals enjoy a whopping 270 kg of bananas. Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan are fast catching up with Kazakhstan whilst in Tajikistan, the annual banana consumption per head is only 2.3 kg. In Turkmenistan, it appears that many citizens never touch the fruit. Lagging far behind its neighbours, a very modest 160 grams are consumed per head, per year; a figure which according to East Fruit analysts is even lower than that recorded for North Korea. Not surprisingly, countries with the highest banana consumption tend to be those where the fruit is grown and exported and by way of explaining the above data, Andriy Yarmak, an economist in the investment department of the Unites Nations (UN) Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) stated, "Such a low consumption of bananas in Central Asian countries is due to the distance of the countries from the port infrastructure, which makes logistics very expensive. In addition, many countries in the region have high tariff and non-tariff barriers that prevent the import of exotic fruits into these regions. The third factor is the relatively low prices of local fruits, especially in the season of their mass production.”
The first meeting of the working group on the development of the multimodal transport corridor Belarus–Russia–Kazakhstan–Uzbekistan–Afghanistan–Pakistan took place in Termez, Uzbekistan on 23 April. Attended by each of the countries’ ministers of transport, the meeting focused on connections between Central Asian states and the CIS through Uzbekistan with South Asia. According to the Uzbek Transport Ministry, the resulting roadmap, signed by all parties, aims to increase transit cargo transportation through Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, and Pakistan through the introduction of digital documents to speed up and simplify processing. In recent years, the volume of transit cargo through Afghanistan has increased by over 30%, reaching almost 1 million tons. Following a transit trade agreement between Uzbekistan and Pakistan in 2021, cargo volumes have increased significantly and in 2022, cargo transportation between the two countries through Afghanistan increased 2.5-fold. This year, Uzbekistan plans to transport more than 1 million tons of cargo through Afghanistan to Pakistan.
Russian state nuclear power corporation Rosatom is ready to offer lower-capacity nuclear power plant (NPP) projects to Uzbekistan. That's according to comments made by Denis Manturov, Russia's Minister of Trade and Industry, at the fourth annual international industrial exhibition, Innoprom, Central Asia. “Currently, the Rosatom state corporation and the Uzatom agency are working out the general contract for the construction of a nuclear power plant. This is a large-scale and complex project. Rosatom is ready to offer Uzbekistan additional solutions, including solutions related to low-power nuclear power plants,” Manturov said. According to Manturov, who is also a Deputy Prime Minister, the site for the construction of the NPP has already been chosen, and the spot is located near Tuzkon Lake in the Jizzakh region, which studies have confirmed is a favorable place. In addition, the optimal technical configuration for the project has already been determined. Rosatom plans to build a complex consisting of two power units with VVER-1200 reactors. “Now, together with Uzbek and international experts, technical issues related to the integration of the nuclear power plant into the energy system, cooperation with renewable energy sources, reducing the volume of water for the use of the plant and maximum production of electricity are being considered taking into account the climatic characteristics of the region,” Manturov stated.
