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Mirziyoyev Tells Uzbekistan’s Parliament That He Wants a Stronger Opposition

Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev said on Monday that the parliament should be more dynamic about solving society’s problems, and that the “opposition” should have more rights in the assembly. His comments were in line with the government’s reform push, but also reflected Mirziyoyev's tight political control over Uzbekistan, because none of the five registered political parties pose a meaningful challenge to him. Mirziyoyev made the announcements in a speech to the Oliy Majlis, Uzbekistan’s parliament, in its first session since October 27 legislative elections. The elections were meant to underline the country’s evolution toward political liberalization, even though OSCE election observers said there was a lack of political competition and the vote “did not offer voters a real choice.” Those elections introduced a mixed system in which half of 150 lawmakers were elected individually and half from party lists, the result of a constitutional change that is part of a broader government campaign to develop the Central Asian country in socio-economic, judicial and other areas. While Mirziyoyev promised more openness and accountability after taking power following the death of longtime leader Islam Karimov in 2016, opponents say the government is often heavyhanded in its response to dissent and efforts to form a genuine political opposition are kept in check. Mirziyoyev’s comment about giving more clout to the opposition came midway through a speech in which he reviewed the elections and urged parliamentarians to be more pro-active in “solving urgent problems” in Uzbekistan. He talked about legislative proposals to replace old residential buildings with modern ones, support private education and investors in energy, introduce mandatory health insurance and tackle themes related to artificial intelligence. “In order to boost the opposition, it was proposed to increase the number of guaranteed rights of the parliamentary opposition from 3 to 6, including giving it the positions of one committee chairman and two deputy committee chairmen, as well as additional rights to submit questions within the framework of the “government hour” and parliamentary inquiries,” Mirziyoyev’s office said in a statement. There are nuances between the government and some lawmakers on specific issues such as environmental policy or public pronouncements on Uzbekistan’s relationship with Russia, though the registered parties are essentially loyal to the president. In a constitutional referendum in 2023, voters approved measures that could let Mirziyoyev stay in power until 2040.

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Fueling Growth: IFC Strategic Initiatives for Sustainable Development in Central Asia – An Interview With Hela Cheikhrouhou

With its headquarters in Washington, D.C. the International Finance Corporation (IFC) was established in 1956 as the private-sector arm of the World Bank. The institution offers advisory, and asset-management services to promote investment in developing countries. Recent ventures in Central Asia include solar power projects in Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, and an entrepreneurship scheme for women and young people in Tajikistan. TCA spoke with Hela Cheikhrouhou, IFC Vice President for the Middle East, Central Asia, Türkiye, Afghanistan, and Pakistan about the IFC’s work in Central Asia. TCA: Can you please give us an overview of IFC's performance in Central Asia for fiscal year 2024 (July 1, 2023, to June 30, 2024)? IFC had a pivotal year in Central Asia, making strides in sustainable development and inclusive growth across the region. Our efforts concentrated on climate finance, infrastructure, agriculture, and supporting smaller businesses. By coupling investments with advisory support, we helped expand the role of the private sector, creating jobs, promoting financial inclusion, strengthening infrastructure, and supporting the region's green transition. In the fiscal year 2024, IFC committed over $1 billion to Central Asia. This includes about $400 million in long-term financing from our own account, $600 million in mobilization, and $35 million in short-term trade and supply-chain finance to facilitate trade flows. Alongside these financial commitments, we engaged in advisory projects focused on improving financial inclusion, developing innovative public-private partnerships (PPPs), and advancing climate initiatives and gender equality. Our results this year underscore our commitment to fostering sustainable, inclusive growth, and enhancing the resilience and sustainability of Central Asian economies. TCA: Can you highlight some of the IFC’s key achievements in Central Asia this year? In addition to the strong financial commitments mentioned earlier, IFC expanded its presence in various sectors, including finance, capital markets, renewable energy, agriculture, and infrastructure. Through our advisory services, we helped structure impactful PPPs at the sectoral level. A major focus this year has been strengthening local financial markets. IFC invested $228 million across ten financial institutions in Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. Up to half this amount was dedicated to supporting women entrepreneurs and rural enterprises. We also helped these financial institutions expand portfolios related to their micro, small, and medium enterprise (MSME) businesses, advance climate finance, foster digital transformation, and issue the region’s first sustainability, social, and green bonds. Supporting MSMEs has enabled entrepreneurs to grow their businesses and generate employment. In the past fiscal year alone, IFC-supported projects created around 35,000 direct jobs, including opportunities for over 13,000 women across the region. These efforts have been further bolstered by targeted investments and projects in individual countries across the region. In Uzbekistan, IFC, together with the World Bank, financed a new solar plant equipped with the country’s first battery energy storage system. Once completed, the plant is expected to provide electricity access to around 75,000 households in the Bukhara region. As part of its broader support for the Uzbek government’s efforts to reform its chemical sector, IFC assisted the State Asset Management Agency in privatizing Ferganaazot,...

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Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Azerbaijan Forge Green Energy Partnership

On November 13, on the sidelines of the COP29 summit in Baku, Azerbaijan, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, Shavkat Mirziyoyev and Ilham Aliyev, the leaders of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan, signed an agreement for a strategic partnership in developing and transporting green energy. Calling the signing of this agreement a historic event, Aliyev said that “it opens new opportunities for cooperation between the regions of Central Asia and the Caucasus. In fact, the integration processes, the processes related to transportation, energy, and trade between the regions of Central Asia and the Caucasus, allow us to say that these two regions are acting in a synchronized manner in many areas, including in the field of green energy development.”. The Azeri president added that constructing an electric cable under the Caspian Sea could lead to broader regional collaboration. Aliyev also highlighted Azerbaijan's ongoing plans to construct a cable from Azerbaijan along the bottom of the Black Sea to Europe. “The feasibility study for this project is nearing completion, so we will connect Central Asia, the Caucasus, Europe, the Caspian, and the Black Seas with a single energy corridor,” he stated. In his speech, Tokayev said the trilateral agreement opens new opportunities for integrating the energy systems of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Azerbaijan, as well as for creating reliable corridors to supply environmentally friendly energy to European and other markets. “Kazakhstan plays an extremely important role here as a large transit territory. The practical results of this Agreement will also contribute to developing the Middle Corridor as a ‘green bridge’ connecting our economies. Close cooperation in this key area will intensify the exchange of experience and advanced technologies between the three states and further strengthen our energy security,” Tokayev said. Mirziyoyev emphasized the environmental significance of this agreement, noting, “The energy that will be transmitted is wind and solar energy, which will help mitigate the impact on the climate. In this way, we support joint efforts to protect the climate within the framework of the Paris Agreement and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals,” he added. The three presidents also witnessed the signing of an Executive Program on cooperation in green energy development and transmission by the energy ministers of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Saudi Arabia.

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Asia Now Creating a Market for Central Asian Art in Paris

When we think about spreading knowledge of Central Asian art in Europe, we might think of exhibitions, of festivals, of panels and talks, not necessarily of an art fair. However, in the contemporary art world, it is today the market, more than art critics, which dictates the emergence of certain art scenes as a whole. For the historically underrepresented Central Asian art market, smaller fairs represent today an important alley, more than the big fairs such as Art Basel – which just had its second Paris iteration this October. Smaller “boutique fairs,” as they are called, often present curated programming which allow a wide public – not just collectors and buyers – to enjoy the art as it was an exhibition. A selling one, of course. In Paris, the most relevant fair which has historically presented Central Asian artists to the European public is called Asia Now, and it took place in Paris from October 17 to 20. Entirely dedicated to Asian art, the fair has historically tried to fill the gap for Central Asian art in the European market in the past ten years of its existence. The fair has selected more than 70 leading and emerging contemporary art galleries from all over the world, presenting more than 220 artists coming from 26 territories from all over Asia and its diaspora, stretching from Central Asia to the Asia-Pacific, including West, South, South-East, and East Asia. Their commitment to expanding knowledge of Central Asian art in Europe culminated last year in a show which was indeed focused on Central Asia, and curated by the artist group Slav and Tatars. While seminal Central Asian galleries such as the Aspan Gallery from Almaty and Pygmalion Gallery from Astana didn’t return to Asia Now this year, the fair still presented a number of Central Asian artists and practices, interspersed between the main show, and the booths. Central Asian Artists in the Radicant’s Main Show The main exhibition of Asia Now was curated by Radicants, a collective founded by art critic Nicolas Bourriaud, and it was centered on sacred ceremonies seen as a powerful tool for re-examining societal structures and reconnecting with ancestral roots. Called “Ceremony,” the main show was co-curated by Nicolas Bourriaud and Alexander Burenkov, a curator of Russian origins who has been working for a long time with Central Asian narratives, which are also featured prominently in the show. [caption id="attachment_25510" align="aligncenter" width="2560"] Image: TCA, Naima Morelli[/caption] The idea of ceremony ties to the tenth anniversary of the art fair, but at the same time the curators opted to explore the nuances of ritual as both a "celebration of ancestral wisdom" and a "critical tool for interrogating and redefining established traditions and power dynamics." As Burenkov noted, the decision to use the theme of ceremony emerged after conversations with Asia Now director Alexandra Fain. “The choice fell on ‘ceremony’ in all its variability and polysemy [was used] to explore the non-obvious meanings of ritual through the eyes of contemporary artists...

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Mirziyoyev Offers to Bring Wounded Palestinians to Uzbekistan for Treatment

On November 11, Uzbekistan's President Shavkat Mirziyoyev delivered a speech at the extraordinary Arab-Islamic Summit in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, expressing concern over the spread of the Middle East conflict into Lebanon. He reiterated Uzbekistan’s support for initiatives to resolve the Palestinian-Israeli issue peacefully and diplomatically. In his speech, Mirziyoyev said, “Uzbekistan fully supports all practical initiatives to address the Palestinian-Israeli problem through peace and diplomacy. We believe today’s Summit will demonstrate common political will and unity, develop effective global and regional mechanisms and specific solutions, and swiftly put them into practice.” Mirziyoyev called for the United Nations and the Security Council to play an increased role in ending hostilities. He emphasized the need for safe humanitarian corridors and the immediate initiation of peace talks. With the Palestinian national holiday on November 15 approaching, Mirziyoyev underscored the nation’s right to an independent state with East Jerusalem as its capital, based on the 1967 borders. He also supported the Global Alliance for Implementing the Two-State Solution initiated by Saudi Arabia. Mirziyoyev called for expanding humanitarian aid to Palestine and Lebanon to prevent the escalation of the crisis and confirmed Uzbekistan’s readiness to treat wounded Palestinian children and women in its hospitals. He announced plans to discuss further assistance at the Gulf Arab States – Central Asia summit in Samarkand next year. Finally, he stressed the importance of preserving the Al-Aqsa Mosque and other cultural monuments in Jerusalem, urging members of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation to prioritize protecting these historic sites. Mirziyoyev concluded by urging an urgent and unified response to the crisis and highlighting Uzbekistan’s commitment to peace and humanitarian support in the region.

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Central Asia Gears Up For Another Trump Term

Leaders in Central Asia have congratulated Donald Trump on his election to another term as U.S. president, a development that governments in the region will watch closely for its impact on trade, geopolitical tensions and other priorities. Central Asian governments generally seek to balance their relationships with the West alongside more entrenched ties to nearby Russia and China, and are likely to be sensitive to any disruption of the status quo as the United States transitions from the Biden administration to another Trump term. Trump defeated Vice President Kamala Harris in the election on Tuesday, making an extraordinary political comeback and promising that he will deliver “the golden age of America.” Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev sent a message of congratulations to Trump in which he reaffirmed Uzbekistan’s commitment to “deepening the strategic partnership” with the United States, Mirziyoyev’s press office said in a statement. “In his letter, he emphasized shared goals for enhanced cooperation across trade, security, and regional stability, marking a new chapter” in relations between Uzbekistan and the United States, the statement said. Last week, Uzbekistan wrapped up talks with the United States as part of its campaign to join the World Trade Organization by early 2026. President Sadyr Japarov of Kyrgyzstan sent a similar message, according to media reports. "I believe that your leadership experience and deep knowledge will create opportunities for further deepening of comprehensive cooperation between Kyrgyzstan and the United States of America, based on the principles of mutual respect,” Japarov said. In comments relayed to Trump, Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev “expressed confidence that bilateral cooperation in the areas of security, nuclear non-proliferation, and investment would continue to develop consistently,” his office said. Tokayev wished Trump success in efforts to ensure “global stability and security.” There is likely to be basic continuity on matters such as anti-terror cooperation and a stated commitment to trade relations between the U.S. and Central Asia. However, one area of uncertainty is Trump’s warning that he will intensify tariffs on U.S. imports of goods from China, a major economic player across Central Asia. That, in turn, could lead to major fallout for the global economy. Another prominent question is whether Trump will push Western-backed Ukraine to reach a peace deal with Russia nearly three years after Russia’s full-scale invasion. Central Asian nations – specifically, the five former Soviet republics of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan – have sought a position of neutrality, maintaining their relationships with Russia without offering clear support for the Russian military campaign. Relationships in the region might be due for recalibration if Russian President Vladimir Putin emerges emboldened from any Trump initiative in the conflict. Tokayev has already called for peace efforts to bring the war to an end, describing Russia as “militarily invincible.” There are concerns that Trump will erode U.S. democratic institutions in his second term, a potential disappointment for groups that would like to see the U.S. campaign harder for democratic freedoms in Central Asia. Trump has also promised mass deportations and...