Uzbekistan - The Times Of Central Asia

Viewing results 7 - 12 of 3255

IPO

Uzbekistan Conducts First Dual IPO in London and Tashkent

Uzbekistan has completed its first international equity offering, as the state-backed National Investment Fund of Uzbekistan (UzNIF) began trading through a dual listing on the London Stock Exchange and the Tashkent Stock Exchange. UzNIF raised $603.6 million by selling a 31% stake to international and domestic investors. The proceeds could rise to about $692 million if an overallotment option is exercised in full, bringing the total stake sold to 35%. At the offer price, the fund was valued at about $1.95 billion. The offering was managed by Franklin Templeton, while cornerstone investors included funds and accounts managed by BlackRock, Franklin Resources, and Redwheel. The shares were sold by Uzbekistan’s Ministry of Economy and Finance, so the proceeds will go to the state rather than directly to the fund. The listing attracted more than $2.8 billion in investor demand. Julia Hoggett, chief executive of the London Stock Exchange, described UzNIF as the first international IPO from Uzbekistan and the largest IPO on the exchange’s markets so far this year. Saida Mirziyoyeva, head of Uzbekistan’s presidential administration, framed the transaction as part of the country’s effort to deepen capital-market reforms and draw long-term foreign investment. Speaking at the London Stock Exchange, she said the IPO was not only about raising capital, but also about building trust in a new generation of Uzbek institutions. “Uzbekistan has become a more open and reliable partner for the global capital market,” Mirziyoyeva wrote on Telegram. Uzbek officials say the country’s economy has nearly tripled in size in recent years, while investor protections and corporate governance standards have been strengthened. The listing comes as Uzbekistan intensifies efforts to position itself as a new investment destination in Central Asia. During a visit to London, Mirziyoyeva held talks with British officials, financial executives, and investors as Tashkent seeks to expand private-sector participation and develop plans linked to a proposed Tashkent International Financial Centre. Official figures show that British businesses have already invested more than $1 billion in Uzbekistan’s economy. Trading in London opened at $25 per global depositary receipt, with shares rising roughly 12% to $28 within the first hours of trading. On the domestic market, a separate tranche was made available through the Tashkent Stock Exchange, giving Uzbek investors access to a vehicle that had primarily been aimed at international institutions. UzNIF holds stakes in 13 state-linked companies in sectors including transport, energy, banking, telecommunications, utilities, and aviation. Its major holdings include Uzbekistan Airways, Uzbektelecom, Uzbekhydroenergo, and other infrastructure and energy operators. The fund was established in 2024 as part of Uzbekistan’s broader privatization and capital-market reform program. By grouping stakes in strategic state-owned enterprises into a single listed vehicle, the government is offering investors exposure to several parts of the Uzbek economy while retaining state control over the underlying assets. For Uzbekistan, the successful dual listing is a significant market-opening moment. It gives the government a benchmark for future privatizations, broadens access to Uzbek equities, and tests whether investor interest in the country’s reform story can be...

Art and Culture

Central Asia Steps Out of the Post-Soviet Shadow

Central Asia is rarely presented on its own terms. It is more often viewed through exterior lenses like Russian imperial memory, Chinese reach, Silk Road romance, or great-power rivalry. The result is a region made to look secondary to the forces around it, even as its five countries carry deep histories, distinct languages, and identities that cannot be reduced to a backdrop. That old frame is starting to crack. Central Asia is finding new ways to tell its own story. The shift goes beyond tourism or national branding. It is about who gets to define the region, which is still too often seen through the things done to it or extracted from it. Culture depicts the other side of that narrative, a place that has shaped history, not merely endured it, with traditions and ideas that have long carried influence far beyond its borders. [caption id="attachment_49147" align="aligncenter" width="2048"] Sky above Almaty: Qandy Qantar; image courtesy of Saule Suleimenova[/caption] Kazakhstan offers one visible example. The Almaty Museum of Arts opened on September 12, 2025, adding a major institution for modern and contemporary art. Its arrival builds on a broader shift in which private galleries, international platforms, and artists such as Aigerim Karibayeva and Saule Suleimenova are moving Kazakh art beyond folkloric shorthand toward identity, postcolonial memory, and urban life. The reopening of the Tselinny Center of Contemporary Culture, in a former Soviet-era cinema, adds a sharper symbolic layer. A building once tied to Soviet public culture has become a platform for modern Central Asian voices, reflecting a scene increasingly rethinking nomadism rather than simply reproducing it. [caption id="attachment_49148" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] Image: The Tselinny Center of Contemporary Culture[/caption] Uzbekistan has made culture central to its international reemergence. The inaugural Bukhara Biennial brought contemporary art into a city more often seen through its monuments, turning madrasas and caravanserais into exhibition spaces for Uzbek and world artists. The same push is visible in the Tashkent Centre for Contemporary Art, Uzbekistan’s presence at the Venice Architecture Biennale, and design projects such as When Apricots Blossom, which link heritage, craft, and the environmental disaster of the Aral Sea. Artists such as Oyjon Khayrullaeva show a younger generation reworking Islamic ornament, textiles, and public space into new visual languages. At the same time, the State Museum of Karakalpakstan in Nukus, with its Soviet-era censored works, gives the country’s art history deeper heft. In Tashkent, the Islamic Civilization Center is working on a different scale. Recognized by Guinness World Records in 2026 as the largest museum of Islamic civilization, it gives Uzbekistan a stronger role in shaping how that legacy is understood today. [caption id="attachment_49146" align="aligncenter" width="2048"] Image courtesy of Oyjon Khayrullaeva[/caption] Kyrgyzstan’s confidence rests on different ground. The sixth World Nomad Games are scheduled for August 31 to September 6, 2026, with events in Bishkek and around Issyk-Kul. That gives Kyrgyzstan a stage for living nomadic traditions, not a static museum display of them. Its contemporary art scene adds a more intimate layer, with artists such as...

Water Crisis

Tajikistan and UN to Host Water Crisis Conference in Dushanbe

Tajikistan and the United Nations will co-host the 4th High-Level International Conference on the International Decade for Action "Water for Sustainable Development " 2018-2028 next week, as Central Asia and other regions face increasing water scarcity because of climate change, higher consumption, and other factors. Delegates to the May 25-28 water conference in Dushanbe include government officials, scientists, executives from financial institutions and civil society members from around the world. The goal of creating “sustainable” water resources is especially critical in Central Asia, where there is growing concern that shortages could threaten public health and stir tension between upstream and downstream countries. Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, for example, are in mountainous regions and have relatively significant water resources that they share with neighboring countries. However, the resources are under strain. Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, in turn, rely on the cross-border water supply that flows downstream. Central Asian governments have begun joint projects on water infrastructure to avoid the kind of tensions that emerged in the past. The Dushanbe conference is another step in that process, even though the event is global in perspective. Tajik diplomats have held briefings in Azerbaijan, Saudi Arabia and other countries to promote the conference, describing Tajikistan as a leader in “water diplomacy” as the world faces a water crisis that is increasingly evident in floods, droughts, pollution and melting glaciers. Dushanbe has already hosted several international conferences on water. Saidjon Shafizoda, spokesman for Tajikistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said at a briefing in the Tajik capital on Wednesday that the conference can help accelerate innovation and mobilize funding for the “sustainable and inclusive” management of water, the state Khovar news agency reported. Organizers say more than 2,500 people are expected to participate.

Podcast

Pannier and Hillard’s Spotlight on Central Asia: New Episode Out 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, the team will be covering the highly successful OTS summit in Turkistan, alongside Putin's notably bad day at the Moscow Victory Day parade. We'll also break down the new ships launching in the Caspian Sea and what they signal for cross-Caspian trade, a long-awaited move from Kyrgyzstan's Prosecutor General that we've been tracking for months, another serious shootout involving counter-narcotics forces in Afghanistan, and Emomali Rahmon's trip to Beijing for talks with the Chinese leadership. And for our main story, we turn to Tajikistan's heir apparent, Rustam Emomali, the man widely tipped to become the country's next president On the show this week: - Salim Ayoubzod (Radio Free Liberty) - Edward Lemon (The Oxus Society for Central Asian Affairs)

Regional Security

Tokayev Urges Central Asia and China to Strengthen Law Enforcement Cooperation

Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev hosted the interior and public security ministers of the “Central Asia-China” format in Astana during the second meeting of regional law enforcement agencies. The meeting was attended by Chinese Minister of Public Security Wang Xiaohong, Kyrgyz Interior Minister Ulan Niyazbekov, Tajik Interior Minister Ramazon Rahimzoda, Turkmen Interior Minister Muhammet Hydyrov, and Uzbek Interior Minister Aziz Tashpulatov. Participants discussed transnational crime, drug trafficking, cybercrime, and extremism. Tokayev said strengthening cooperation between the law enforcement agencies of Central Asia and China is essential for maintaining regional stability. “Transnational organized crime is becoming increasingly flexible and interconnected. Cybercrime has evolved into a highly profitable global industry,” the president said. According to Tokayev, criminal groups are increasingly using digital platforms to coordinate activities, launder money, and carry out attacks that transcend national borders. He emphasized that Central Asia’s position at the crossroads of major transport and trade routes leaves the region particularly vulnerable to transnational criminal networks. Tokayev said Kazakhstan considers the rule of law a strategic state priority and is continuing the implementation of its “Law and Order” governance concept. He called for stronger efforts to block the financial flows of criminal organizations, suppress the spread of extremist ideology, and detect preparations for terrorist attacks. The president devoted particular attention to cybersecurity threats. “Artificial intelligence in the hands of destructive actors is becoming an information weapon,” Tokayev said. According to him, illegal content and disinformation are spreading online on an industrial scale, while existing mechanisms of international cooperation require substantial modernization. Tokayev also linked security concerns to the expansion of regional transport infrastructure, including the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route. “The growth of cargo traffic is associated with certain risks, including transnational crime and the trafficking of contraband, drugs, and weapons,” he said. In Tokayev’s view, the “Central Asia-China” format should evolve into a platform for developing coordinated and practical security measures across the region. Participants in the meeting reaffirmed their intention to expand operational information-sharing, strengthen professional cooperation, and introduce modern technologies into law enforcement activities.

Trade Pavilion

Kyrgyzstan to Open Trade Pavilion at Uzbekistan’s Key Food Distribution Center

The Trade Mission of the Kyrgyz Republic in Uzbekistan will open a Kyrgyz Trade Pavilion at Food City in Tashkent. Food City is Uzbekistan’s largest wholesale fruit and vegetable market and one of the country’s biggest food distribution centers. An agreement on the pavilion’s opening was signed on May 15 in Tashkent between the Trade Mission of the Kyrgyz Republic in Uzbekistan and the Uzbek company FOODSTUFFS SELL. Spanning 60 hectares in Tashkent, Food City includes a large fresh food market serving retailers, supermarket chains, exporters, food processing companies, restaurants, and catering businesses. According to the Kyrgyz Ministry of Economy and Commerce, the pavilion will create a new platform for promoting Kyrgyz products in the Uzbek market and developing trade between the two countries. The pavilion will feature a permanent exhibition of Kyrgyz goods, including environmentally friendly and organic agricultural products, processed goods, and other food products. Officials say the project is expected to expand Kyrgyzstan’s export potential and strengthen direct ties between producers and distributors in the two countries. Bakai Akbaraliev, Kyrgyzstan’s trade representative in Uzbekistan, said the opening of the pavilion at Food City represents more than simply a new trading platform. “We are creating a sustainable channel for promoting Kyrgyz products, expanding export opportunities for businesses, and developing new mechanisms for sustainable trade and economic cooperation between the two countries,” Akbaraliev said. The project also aims to increase trade turnover between Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan.