Page 832 – The Times Of Central Asia

11 Mar 2024

Central Asia, Opinion Head, Opinions, Features

Letting Women Lead: Bridging the Finance Gap for Women-Led Businesses

June 27, 2024
By Times of Central Asia

Opinion by Hela Cheikhrouhou, IFC Regional Vice President, Middle East, Central Asia, Türkiye, Afghanistan, and Pakistan

I get to meet many courageous women in my work for IFC in Southwest and Central Asia. [1] I’ve witnessed the seemingly insurmountable challenges they encounter every day.

I’ve seen the unyielding resolve of rural women in Tattha, Pakistan in the face of climate change-induced severe floods, and the stunting of their children due to a lack of potable water.

I’ve heard the heartening stories of female leaders shattering the glass ceiling in Kuwait.

I’ve had passionate discussions with women entrepreneurs who are struggling to secure financing in a region where very few formal enterprises are majority owned by women. In Kazakhstan, that proportion is just 23.8 percent. In Jordan, it’s 8.1, in Lebanon, 4.7.

Closing the economic gender gap is even more urgent due to the region’s poor performance in the World Bank’s Women, Business and Law 2023 score: Nearly half its countries ranked lowest on the index.

Their struggles remain largely invisible to the world. But, with entrenched economic challenges and escalating fragility and conflict, we can no longer afford to avert our eyes from the issues faced by half of the global population.

The numbers reveal a disturbing gender disparity. In 2022, female labor force participation in the Middle East, Central Asia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Türkiye (MCT) stood at 26 percent of women at working age, compared to 75 percent for men. This isn’t just a matter of equity—failing to bridge economic gender gaps in these countries casts a dark shadow on the region’s annual GDP.

The valiant voices I’ve encountered have shone a light on the key challenges preventing women from thriving in, or even entering the work force: the lack of flexible working arrangements, robust measures to combat harassment, safe transportation, affordable childcare, and better access to a quality education. Showcasing female role models would also help inspire girls and young women to pursue a career.

In the entrepreneurial landscape, the uneven playing field makes survival and growth an uphill battle for women-led businesses. The dearth of funding directed towards women entrepreneurs is another key obstacle—a mere 7 percent of private equity and venture capital in emerging markets is invested in women-founded startups.

Many factors contribute to women’s limited access to startup capital. One reason is this staggering statistic: only about 15% of all VC ‘cheque-writers’ are women. This glaring absence of a female perspective in the venture capital space invites unconscious biases. A lack of collateral, due to limitations on women’s access to asset ownership, further exacerbates women entrepreneurs’ lack of access to funding.

But the challenges go far beyond finance. Social and cultural norms act as significant barriers to women’s entrepreneurship. For example, cultural expectations see childcare responsibilities placed mainly on women—preventing them from excelling in the entrepreneurship space.

Yet hidden behind these challenges are outsized opportunities. The potential benefits of financing women-led businesses are substantial for both banks and investors. Research consistently shows that a gender-balanced portfolio outperforms its peers. [2]

Diverse leadership—especially in terms of gender balance—yields higher returns. Private equity and venture capital funds with gender-balanced senior investment teams have demonstrated 10 to 20 percent higher returns.

We can bridge the finance gap for women-led businesses by strengthening the enabling environment, building the capacity of ecosystem players, encouraging mentorship and networking opportunities, promoting education, and training, and fostering collaboration between the public and private sectors.

Investing in women is more than just a smart investment decision. It’s an investment in our future—a future where half the region’s population are recruited and empowered to play a pivotal role in driving positive societal change.

[1]Middle East, Central Asia, Türkiye, Afghanistan, and Pakistan.

[2] by more than 5.5 percentage points in valuation increase per year. Source: https://www.ifc.org/content/dam/ifc/doc/mgrt/moving-toward-gender-balance-final-3-22.pdf , p 33

11 Mar 2024

Justice, Home, Kazakhstan Justice

Kazakhstan soars on gender data transparency amid mixed results from rest of Central Asia

June 28, 2024
By Times of Central Asia

Open Data Watch, an international non-profit organization supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, published in late 2023 a Gender Data Compass (GDC) report on the availability and openness of 53 key gender indicators in 185 countries. With numerous outlets and articles celebrating international women’s day last week, now is a good opportunity to revisit this important document to see where Central Asian countries rank in the world in terms of gender data transparency. The most interesting finding from the report is Kazakhstan’s remarkable success: The country has secured a coveted fourth position globally, coming just behind Great Britain, South Korea and Denmark, and is the only country from Central Asia that entered the top five. By comparison, Kyrgyzstan holds the 45^th place out of 185 countries, Uzbekistan the 56^th, Tajikistan the 159^th, and Turkmenistan holds the 171^st spot. The United States, on the hand, came in 48^th globally.

The GDC provides information on national gender data systems and the environment in which they operate. It investigates whether a country has policies and laws that encourage the production and dissemination of official gender data, as well as the strengths of their regulatory frameworks, funding structures and national capacities in terms of ability to support transformative changes. Kazakhstan has scored 60 out of 100 on both “openness” and “availability” of its gender data, according to Open Data Watch. It is important to note that the front runner of the rankings, the United Kingdom, has scored just 55 on “availability” and 74 on “openness”, underlining a need even in developed countries for improving gender data coverage gaps and publishing data in more open and available formats, among other things.

The goal of this report is to provide necessary insights and serve as a practical guide to relevant national authorities as well as to their partners to take effective action towards gender equality.

11 Mar 2024

Central Asia, Kyrgyzstan, Kyrgyzstan International Affairs, Kyrgyzstan Business & Economy

Kyrgyzstan Joins the International Maritime Organization (IMO) Despite Being a Landlocked Country

June 27, 2024
By Times of Central Asia

The Secretary General of the International Maritime Organization (IMO), Arsenio Dominguez announced its newest member state of Kyrgyzstan at a meeting on ship systems and equipment, according to the IMO’s press service. Political scientists and economists in Kyrgyzstan note that, despite the fact that the country is landlocked, this is an important event for the economy in terms of access to world markets for export of domestic products.

“If we join this organization, it means we start playing on the world market of transportation of people and goods by seas and oceans. Joining IMO opens the way for us to legally start our own merchant marine fleet,” political scientist Denis Berdakov told the Times of Central Asia.

An important point in Kyrgyzstan’s IMO journey came in 2021, when Iranian authorities allocated Kyrgyzstan a place in the port of Bandar Abbas on the Persian Gulf, meaning that goods from Kyrgyzstan could be shipped to Europe by sea.

“The main task now is access to the sea. We have already said that we have two priorities – investments and exports. And for exports, we need to first solve logistics issues. Now the volume of trade turnover with China is growing. In addition, if the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railroad starts functioning, we should become a hub for cargo transportation. To do this, we need to create conditions for logistics companies,” Kyrgyz Economy Minister, Daniyar Amangeldiyev said earlier.

For those same reasons, AD Ports Group from the UAE signed an agreement with the Kyrgyz Government two years ago on the allocation of 300,000 square meters in the free economic zone called KEZAD (Khalifa Economic Zone Abu Dhabi) near Khalifa Port, which is the main seaport of Abu Dhabi. The Kyrgyz Ministry of Economy said this will allow duty-free exports from these ports to third countries, and now it will do so using its own ships.

Gulf countries now buy meat, honey, nuts and other products from Kyrgyzstan. Local businessmen have repeatedly said they are ready to increase exports, and, as noted by the Ministry of Economy & Commerce of Kyrgyzstan, the republic is ready to increase exports to the UAE and. To date, the Kyrgyz Republic trades mainly with Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) countries, but the potential for geographic expansion is great, especially given the robust opportunities for the re-export of Chinese goods. Using a combination of transport modes and goods, the Kyrgyz authorities can revive the ancient Silk Road route from China to Europe.

Against the backdrop of the beginning of construction of the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railroad, Bishkek is thinking about transit of its goods by rail to Turkmenistan’s Caspian Sea ports and beyond those to the ports of Russia and Iran. Kyrgyzstan became the 176th country to join the IMO. The organization last accepted Botswana into its ranks in 2021. According to the IMO charter, membership in the maritime organization is open to all states subject to compliance with the provisions contained in the maritime convention.

11 Mar 2024

Central Asia, Uzbekistan, Uzbekistan Business & Economy, Uzbekistan International Affairs

Uzbekistan to Get Two More Wind Farms to Support Domestic Energy Sector

June 27, 2024
By Times of Central Asia

Saudi company ACWA Power will build two more wind farms in Uzbekistan with a total capacity of 800 MW. One of them will be located in the Kungrad district of Karakalpakstan, and the second in the Gijduvan district of Bukhara region. The agreement, signed back in November 2023, envisages an investment of almost $1.1 billion. Under the agreement, ACWA Power will sell electricity generated by these power plants to JSC National Electric Networks of Uzbekistan for 25 years.

The Saudi company considers Uzbekistan promising in terms of energy investments. According to the republic’s national strategy, it plans to increase its share of green energy up to 25% nationally by 2030.

ACWA has already invested $7.5 billion in the republic’s energy sector. The largest of its projects are the construction of a combined cycle heat-power plant (CCHP) with a capacity of 1.5 GW in the Syrdarya region, a wind farm with a capacity of 1.5 GW in Karakalpakstan, and two CCHPs with a total capacity of 1 GW in Bukhara region.

The company also plans to produce green hydrogen in Uzbekistan. This project, which was finalized and launched in November of last year, will be realized in two stages. To start, a 2.4 GW power plant will produce 500 thousand tons/year of green hydrogen, which will then be used for the production of nitrogen fertilizers. According to experts’ calculations, this will save 33 million tons of natural gas. The company has launched the first such project in its home country, and the second oneis scheduled for the end of this year.

In recent years, the republic has embraced green energy, which now accounts for only 10% of the country’s total electricity output. By comparison, in Germany in 2023, renewable energy sources provided up to 60% of the total electricity generated in the country. The President of Uzbekistan has repeatedly emphasized in his speeches that the country’s green energy capacity exceeds its needs by 10-12 times.

For Uzbekistan, decarbonization of the energy sector is becoming a priority not only from an economic point of view. It’s also required by pressing environmental conditions in hot, dry Central Asia – conditions which are deteriorating by the day. According to a World Bank report titled Country Report on Climate and Development, by 2030 at least eight million people across the country will live in areas threatened by very high climate risks. According to the authors of the report, abandoning traditional energy sources will enable Uzbekistan not only to strengthen the country’s energy security, but also to rid itself of one of the main causes of high mortality – air pollution.

11 Mar 2024

Central Asia, Kyrgyzstan Environment, Kyrgyzstan, Kyrgyzstan Business & Economy, Kyrgyzstan Features

Climate Change Threatens Kyrgyzstan With Potential Energy Crisis

June 27, 2024
By Times of Central Asia

With electricity serving as Kyrgyzstan’s main source of heating for a third of the country’s population, national power consumption is tripling during the winter months, according to the Kyrgyz Energy Ministry. The ministry has drafted a law requiring “efficient and rational” use of electricity. Also, according to the draft law, authorities should develop efficient ways to generate electricity that take into account global climate change.

“At present, the shortage of domestic energy resources and constantly rising prices for imported hydrocarbons are constraining factors in increasing production and fully meeting the needs of the population and the real sector of the republic’s economy in the power grid,” reads the background to the draft law.

According to the ministry, the country’s leadership has laid out the task of creating conditions for introducing progressive technologies, equipment and materials into Kyrgyzstan’s energy sector that can ensure a qualitative improvement in the efficiency of domestic energy consumption. The background to the draft law states that in order to achieve this, the first priority is a system of strict record-keeping of electricity consumption by private companies and the population. The Ministry of Energy investigated and found that 35% of Kyrgyz people use electricity for space heating in winter. That’s because electricity is cheaper than traditional energy resources such as gas and coal. Officials argue that the low level of electricity tariffs for the population does not incentivize energy conservation. International observers have repeatedly said that increasing the price of electricity is a necessity, but the country’s authorities don’t want to take unpopular measures.

The Ministry of Energy believes that if every citizen is concerned about saving electricity and using it rationally, the country’s dependence on power imports will be reduced. As the Times of Central Asia has previously reported, Kyrgyzstan has a serious imbalance in its energy system, despite the country’s large water reserves. Electricity consumption grows by six% every year, forcing the authorities to import electricity from neighboring countries during the winter. But by the 2030s, the situation could seriously deteriorate. That’s because most of the country’s hydroelectric power plants, which generate 78% of Kyrgyzstan’s electricity, are located on the Naryn River. Climate scientists predict that the flow of Kyrgyzstan’s main river will decrease by 15-50% after 2030. That means the already low water levels in Kyrgyzstan’s largest reservoirs could become even lower.

This year, Kyrgyz authorities seriously intend to begin construction of a new large power plant, Kambarata-1, which will also be located on the Naryn River. The cost of the project is more than $3 billion. The new draft law from the Ministry of Energy notes that the Kyrgyz energy sector is highly vulnerable because the main power facilities depend on the flows of only one river. And the persistently warmer temperatures brought by climate change could worsen the industry’s already considerable problems. That’s why more small hydropower plants (HPPs) need to be built in Kyrgyzstan.

Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov has repeatedly said that for energy security, more small HPPs need to be built throughout the country. “To support business, we have abolished VAT on the import of necessary equipment, and simplified the procedure for granting land plots for the construction of energy facilities. Businesses based on renewable energy sources can be exempted from licensing for up to 15 years,” Japarov said earlier.

11 Mar 2024

Central Asia, Turkmenistan, Turkmenistan International Affairs, Turkmenistan Business & Economy

Turkmenistan Border Seeing Illegal Economic Activities Committed From Afghanistan’s Side

June 27, 2024
By Times of Central Asia

Citizens of Afghanistan are using thousands of square kilometers of territory that border Turkmenistan for illicit economic purposes. Specifically, Afghans graze on the land illegally, engage in unrestrained hunting, and gather fruits from wild trees, according to a report by the Chronicles of Turkmenistan, which cited a MeteoJournal.ru story that analyzed satellite photos of the region.

The Turkmenistan-Afghanistan border region is a control zone, which is a section of any border with restricted access that is between a few meters and several kilometers deep. It’s also commonly referred to as a “neutral” zone.

According to MeteoJournal, satellite images show that Afghans are freely entering this area of Turkmenistan, mostly for the purpose of raising livestock. One photo depicts a herd of sheep, as well as a sudden change in the density of vegetation along the line of engineering structures that delimit the border zone within the territory of Turkmenistan. Where the herds graze in front of the engineering structures, there is hardly any vegetation.

Additionally, Turkmenistan’s border zone experiences regular fires, according to MeteoJournal. Environmentalist Andrey Zatoka speculated that intentional grass burning may have caused the fires. Intentional burning of lands used for grazing by livestock is a common tool used by farmers around the world to cultivate vegetation for their animals.

According to the publication’s Telegram channel, a powerful DDoS (distributed denial-of-service) attack started after this content was posted on the MeteoJournal website –and has been ongoing for the past few days.