Uzbekistan - The Times Of Central Asia

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What Will the Future Hold for Uzbekistan’s Gas Problems?

What Will the Future Hold for Uzbekistan’s Gas Problems? Can the infrastructure of Uzbekistan carry the country into a geopolitical resource hub? The country has certainly benefited from energy exports: In terms of available reserves, Uzbekneftegaz remains the sacred cow of the state, which has generated significant foreign exchange earnings. Prime Minister Abdulla Aripov even started to switch industrial enterprises “of no social significance” from natural gas to coal so that more gas would be available for export. In 2019, natural gas was sold on the domestic market at a price of US$118 per thousand cubic meters while Uzbekistan sold gas for export at US$145 per thousand cubic meters. The money came in foreign currency. The conversion of small and medium-sized businesses (such as restaurants and factories for the production of building materials) to coal made it possible to free up over 2.1 billion cubic meters of gas, that is, around US$315 million. On the other hand, gas supply on the domestic market left much to be desired. During the winter period, temperatures unexpectedly dropped below -20 degrees Celsius. Due to a lack of heat in residential buildings in November and December in several regions like Andijan, Karakalpakstan, Nukus, Fergana and Khorezm, the population began to attend unauthorized rallies. In 2020, the Ministry of Energy reluctantly admitted that there was a shortage of gas due to depletion of gas fields. On December 16, 2020, the government decided to reduce the export of gas and direct it towards domestic needs. That said, exports were being reduced even earlier than this. In fact, the first reports of the suspension of fuel supplies to other countries appeared in March 2020, when the global COVID-19 pandemic began and the main gas consumer, China, reduced imports from Uzbekistan. In 2021, Uzbekistan once again experienced extremely low air temperatures. Gas exports were again limited. Even though Deputy Chairman of Uzbekneftegaz, Bakhodir Sidikov, said that fuel reserves would last for several decades (in his words, “We have very large, promising areas for geological exploration, but the current approved hydrocarbon reserves will last for 20-30 years”) the coming months proved that these forecasts to be overly optimistic. Soon after, the Ministry of Energy announced that even with limited exports, Uzbekistan lacked about 20 million cubic meters of gas per day. On the night of December 31, 2022, supplies to Uzbekistan from Turkmenistan stopped due to burst gas pipelines. Unusual frosts caused increased gas consumption, resulting in a shortage of fuel for power plants and boiler houses. The country began experiencing long-term power outages, problems with heating, hot water, and gas pressure in homes. Against the backdrop of the emerging energy shortage, the authorities were forced to close gas stations and industrial enterprises in order to distribute the remaining gas to the population and social facilities. And thus, what was already known by many Uzbeks became apparent to the rest of the world. More than half of the gas pipelines in Uzbekistan (45 thousand km) were laid more than...

IFC Appoints New Country Manager for Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan

According to the website of the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the organization, a member of the World Bank Group, on October 9 said it has appointed Neil McKain as Country Manager for Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. McKain will spearhead IFC's strategy and operations to spur private sector development and drive sustainable, inclusive economic growth in these countries. McKain will be based in Tashkent, Uzbekistan and will lead efforts to grow IFC's investment and advisory programs, overseeing their operation across sectors, and managing key relationships with clients, partners, and governments. A British national, McKain brings over 20 years of private sector development experience to his new role. He most recently served as Adviser to the Vice President, Banking, at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). Prior to that, McKain was regional head for the EBRD in the Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan, spending 14 years in senior positions in the Caspian Basin and Central Asia. "I welcome Neil to this important role. I know his technical and leadership skills and knowledge of the region will help expand IFC's impact, generate new partnerships to meet the countries' needs, and build a strong foundation for a dynamic and inclusive private sector," said Wiebke Schloemer, IFC Director for Türkiye and Central Asia. "Increased private sector investment is critical to help Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan grow and diversify their economies and better harness their immense potentials," said McKain. "I'm excited to take up my new role and work with our partners in these countries to amplify IFC's support through private sector-led solutions." Before joining the EBRD in 1998, McKain started his professional career with A.T. Kearney in Russia working on post-privatization restructuring. He holds an MBA from the University of Cambridge and an MA in Political Science from the University of Aberdeen. His new role took effect on October 2.

Wahhabi Islam

Authorities Close Religious Institutions in Batken Region

On October 10th, Kyrgyzstan’s State Committee of National Security - comprising representatives from the State Committee of National Security, the Emergency Ministry, the Interior Ministry, Health Ministry, the Grand Mufti's office, other state entities and the regional government stated that it had closed 32 mosques and five religious schools in the southern region of Batken. This came following an assessment examining the potential presence of radical Islamic ideology and extremist viewpoints within the religious institutions. Situated on the southern slope of Solomon’s Throne in Osh, Kyrgyzstan’s largest mosque has the capacity to hold 20,000. Built in the 2010s with funds from Saudi Wahhabis, it was inaugurated by former President Atambayev, who, like other regional leaders before him, had been wooed by promises of Saudi money. Sunni supremacists wishing to revert to the seventh-century ways of Mohammed, Wahhabi missionaries first arrived in Central Asia in 1912, setting up cells in Tashkent and the Fergana Valley. Declaring holy war not only on the West, but also on other Muslims, the Wahhabis labelled all who disagreed with them heretics. Having suffered lean times under the Communists, now they were back and loaded with oil money. Of the Osama Bin Laden school of thought, their goal is to destroy secularism and create a region-wide caliphate based on Sharia law, this despite the fact there has never been an Islamic state in Central Asia. Amongst the Wahhabi’s affiliates are the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, formed in the early nineties by Tohirijon Yuldashev, a twenty-four-year-old college drop-out, and Juma Namangani, an ex-Soviet paratrooper turned train robber. Raising funds by kidnapping Japanese geologists and American mountaineers, in 2000 the IMU briefly took Osh, holding its mayor for ransom and coming within striking distance of its goal of seizing Tashkent. With the IMU largely absorbed into the Afghan Taliban, ignored warnings of the impending 9/11 attacks on America are said to have emanated from Yuldashev, who like Namangani, has since been killed. Looking to engage those alienated by state-appointed imams, who as a recent recruit noted, offer only ‘prayers for a bigger cotton harvest and instructions for how to go to the bathroom properly,’ the IMU are currently calling for a jihad in Southern Kyrgyzstan. With the IMU mainly moved into Afghanistan and Pakistan, in June of 2014, after swearing allegiance to ISIS, the organization claimed responsibility for the attack on Jinnah International Airport in Karachi, Pakistan, which left 36 dead. There are currently upwards of two thousand ISIS recruits from Central Asia, with the movement's hierarchy focused on recruiting more disaffected Uzbeks.

Swiss Accuse Gulnara Karimova of Running Criminal Organization

Switzerland's federal prosecutor has filed an indictment against the imprisoned daughter of Uzbekistan's former president, accusing her of taking bribes and running an elaborate criminal organization known as "The Office." Gulnara Karimova, the eldest daughter of Islam Karimov, who ruled Uzbekistan from 1991 until his death in 2016, is accused of leading the operation, which allegedly channeled hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of bribes from telecoms companies. Switzerland’s Office of the Attorney General (OAG) said on September 28 that money was funneled through bank accounts in several countries before being transferred to banks in Switzerland. According to the statement, Karimova's network began its operations in Switzerland in 2005 “in order to conceal the capital originating from its criminal dealings in Swiss bank accounts and safes and by purchasing real estate.” "‘The Office conducted its criminal activities as a professional business, complying with mandatory regulations and observing a strict allocation of tasks, while also resorting to violence and intimidation," the prosecutors' statement said. In 2012, Switzerland said it froze around 800 million Swiss francs ($871.3 million) in connection with criminal proceedings against Karimova, a pop diva and businesswoman who had a public falling out with her late father and is currently in an Uzbek prison on embezzlement and criminal conspiracy charges. In December 2017, a Tashkent court sentenced Karimova to a 10-year prison term, but the sentence was later commuted to house arrest for five years. She was detained in March 2019 for allegedly violating the terms of her house arrest. In February 2020, Karimova sent a letter to Mirziyoyev offering to return $686 million to the country's treasury in exchange for the dismissal of the court case against her at home. But a month later, she received an additional 13-year sentence after being found guilty of extortion, money laundering, and other crimes. In August, Britain's Serious Fraud Office confiscated three luxury properties worth more than $25.5 million in the United Kingdom that belonged to Gulnara Karimova. The total amount of assets associated with Karimova in Switzerland, France, and the United States is estimated at almost $1.4 billion. Uzbekistan is trying to recover at least $1 billion of that. The 51-year-old Karimova, once seen as a possible successor to her father, has also been tied to money-laundering investigations in Sweden and Switzerland.