Page 852 – The Times Of Central Asia

19 Feb 2024

Central Asia, Home, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan Business & Economy, Kazakhstan, Business & Economy, Kyrgyzstan Business & Economy, Kazakhstan Business & Economy

Central Asians Continue Working in South Korea Despite Legal Issues

June 27, 2024
By Times of Central Asia

The authorities in the Republic of Korea have offered an option to citizens of Uzbekistan who are in the country illegally to return home without facing legal repercussions. To do this, they must voluntarily leave South Korea by February 29th to avoid being subject to deportation rules and be able to return legally in the future.

According to the Agency for External Labor Migration of Uzbekistan, illegal migrants can apply for voluntary departure with the immigration service of Korea up until three working days before the expected date of departure. Applicants need to present their passport and an airline ticket. The service will then issue the migrant an identity card, with which Uzbekistani nationals will be able to return to their home country without hindrance.

South Korea is one of the most popular destinations for Uzbeks, both for work and studies, with Uzbeks occupy fifth place by size of foreign diaspora in the country and numbering more than 69,000. Among them are a large number who are in Korea illegally; according to this indicator, Uzbekistan ranks third. The most popular scheme involves obtaining a D-4 visa, which is granted to foreign citizens who study the Korean language. Having received this and reached the Korean peninsula, citizens of Uzbekistan then start working and stay in the country illegally.

In recent years, the Government of Uzbekistan has established regulations for legal and safe labor migration to South Korea, and at the start of 2024, the republic announced its intention to attract 100,000 Uzbeks to work in the country. Workers are required in sectors such as manufacturing, agriculture, services, and construction. To enter the South Korean workforce legally, Uzbeks need to pass language qualification exams and interviews.

Labor migration to South Korea is also well established in neighboring Kyrgyzstan. Over the past 16 years, 5,000 Kyrgyz have been employed. Citizens of Kyrgyzstan can work there under a contract for four years and nine months, and receive more $2,000 per month. This year, Korea has allocated a quota for labor migrants in the amount of 3,300 people – an increase of 18% on 2023.

By contrast, the issue of labor migration to South Korea from Kazakhstan is still at the negotiation stage. If the parties reach an agreement, Kazakhs will be able to work in Korea for three years – provided they successfully pass the language and professional tests. However, the lack of an agreement does not stop those who wish to earn money in Korea: according to the immigration service of Korea, since the beginning of 2023 about 7,000 Kazakh citizens have been staying in the country without labor visas.

The number of companies interested in hiring illegal migrants in South Korea is constantly expanding for one simple reason: it’s profitable. Migrants are not protected in any way in case of labor disputes, and they earn much lower wages than legal workers. Accordingly, the number of migrants who die working in dangerous industries is also increasing. From 2019 to 2022 alone, 61 Kazakh citizens died in South Korea due to non-compliance with workplace safety and sanitation regulations.

19 Feb 2024

Central Asia, Home, Uzbekistan, International Affairs, Uzbekistan International Affairs

Daughter of Uzbekistan’s First President Sells Beverly Hills Home for $36 Million

June 27, 2024
By Times of Central Asia

Lola Karimova-Tillyaeva, the youngest daughter of the First President of Uzbekistan, Islam Karimov, has sold her luxurious two-story Beverly Hills mansion, Le Palais. The exact amount of the deal and the name of the new owner were not disclosed, but it’s known that the buyer paid about $36 million.

As the Wall Street Journal reports, the house, located opposite the Beverly Hills Hotel, has an area of 4,500 square meters. Karimova-Tillyaeva bought it in 2013 for $32.75 million from real estate developer, Mohammed Hadid, the father of models Bella and Gigi Hadid. Le Palais was built according to Hadid’s own plans.

The mansion has a summer terrace, a garage for 10-12 cars, separate rooms for staff accommodation, an 18-meter outdoor swimming pool, and a roof garden. For the hosts and their guests, the house has seven bedrooms, a dining room of approximately 500 square meters, a ballroom which can accomdate 200 people, a home theater, a gym, and a Turkish bath with an indoor pool.

Four years ago, Lola Karimova-Tillyaeva and her husband Timur Tillyaev put three homes up for sale in Hollywood at prices ranging between $6 million and $6.5 million. They had purchased the properties in 2014 through offshore companies for $16.1 million in total. The couple then proceeded to rent the properties out. In 2015, the American press became aware that the daughter of the Former President of Uzbekistan owned four luxury mansions in one of the most fashionable areas of Los Angeles – the neighborhood of Bel Air. As noted by the Wall Street Journal, the couple also own real estate in France and Switzerland, where their home in Geneva is valued at $41 million.

The 44-year-old youngest daughter of the late President Karimov is the founder of the Harmonist Maison de Parfum perfume company. Her husband owned the largest wholesale market in Uzbekistan,Abu Sahiy. In 2017, Mediapart published an investigation which revealed that Abu Sahiy had transferred $127 million through offshore bank accounts in the United Arab Emirates and Switzerland.

Karimova-Tillyaeva, known in the West as “Till,” served for ten years as Uzbekistan’s Ambassador to UNESCO. She is actively involved in various projects in the fields of culture, health, education, science, and the ecology. The Sen Yolg’iz Emassan (You Are Not Alone) Foundation, which she heads, conducts free surgeries for children from low-income families in Uzbekistan.

19 Feb 2024

Central Asia, Home, Kyrgyzstan, Business & Economy, Kyrgyzstan Business & Economy

Kyrgyzstan’s Kumtor Begins Underground Gold Mining

June 27, 2024
By Times of Central Asia

The Cabinet of Ministers of Kyrgyzstan has said that underground gold mining at Kumtor can provide hundreds of millions of additional dollars to the country’s budget. The deputy head of the Kyrgyz Government, Adylbek Kasymaliev, presided over a ceremony marking the beginning of work at the mine.

The Kumtor deposit is one of the ten largest gold deposits in the world. The mine is located in the Issyk-Kol region in the permafrost zone at an altitude of 4,000 meters above sea level. Revenues from Kumtor account for roughly one-third of the state budget in Kyrgyzstan, with the mine producing about 17 tons of gold per year.

“The feasibility study of the underground gold mining project developed by specialists speaks about its economic efficiency. According to preliminary data, with the help of an underground mining method, it will be possible to get 115 tons of gold. Taking into account the precious metal mined at the [site] by the open-pit method, this is a big step forward,” said Almazbek Baryktabasov, President of the Kumtor Gold Company. Mining underground will help the company reach gold of a higher-grade ore, he said, and as a result, the company will be able to increase its tax payments.

Until its nationalization in 2021, the Kumtor mine was owned by Canadian company, Centerra Gold. Earlier, the Canadian owners tried to extract gold through shafts. However, gold prices did not render this profitable, as the shaft method is much more expensive than the open-pit mining. Over the past ten years, however, the price of an ounce of gold has risen by more than $700 and is currently trading at just over $2,000. Before Kumtor was expropriated, Centerra Gold spent approximately $180 million dollars on research related to underground mining.

Today, the authorities have allocated an additional mining site next to the one where gold ore is already being extracted. According to some reports, the new site contains a denser concentration of the precious metal per unit of ore. Currently, at Kumtor’s open-pit mine, it takes one ton of processed ore and more than 40 tons of extracted waste rock to produce 5-7 grams of gold. Underground mining could double that yield. Furthermore, underground mining is not as environmentally damaging as open-pit mining. For example, one of Kumtor’s main environmental concerns is the destruction of glaciers which literally hang over the edge of the open pit.

19 Feb 2024

Central Asia, Kazakhstan, Kazakhstan Business & Economy

Kazakhstan Mulls Alternative Freight Routes

June 28, 2024
By Times of Central Asia

On February 19th Kazakhstan’s deputy prime minister Serik Zhumangarin held a government meeting on the subject of road freight routes to and from Kazakhstan.

According to the Ministry of Transport, last year 7.6m tons of goods were transported through the country by automobile transport, comprising 2.8m tons of exports and 4.8m tons of imports. Kazakhstan’s freight forwarders accounted for 50.2% of the total volume (Uzbekistan – 10.6%, Turkey – 5.5%, Russia – 3%, and Tajikistan – 2.5%.)

As an alternative to existing international routes, Kazakh officials proposed a route through Turkmenistan to Turkey. For this to happen, Kazakhstan’s visa procedures with Turkmenistan would need to be simplified. In addition, a route through Latvia was proposed as an alternative for the supply of goods to EU countries.

European countries accounted for 1.6m tons of the goods transported to and from Kazakhstan by road in 2023, with Kazakh companies carrying 50% of the total volume. However, the closure of all checkpoints for international road transport in Poland, and the availability of only one checkpoint on the border of Russia and Belarus, became serious obstacles to international trade.

19 Feb 2024

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

Germany and Kazakhstan Expand Their Partnership

June 28, 2024
By Times of Central Asia

A meeting of the Kazakh-German Intergovernmental Working Group on Trade and Economic Cooperation was held in Berlin on February 16th. It was co-chaired by Kanat Sharlapaev, Kazakhstan’s minister for industry and construction, and Dominik Schnichels, the director for foreign trade policy of Germany’s Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Protection.

The meeting discussed bilateral trade and economic relations, cooperation in energy, environment, agriculture and water management, transport, logistics and infrastructure, as well as cooperation in raw materials, industrial and technological spheres, the Kazakh Embassy in Germany reported.

Mr Schnichels commented: “To confirm once again the level of Strategic Partnership between Kazakhstan and Germany, constructive and fruitful talks were held at today’s meeting of the Intergovernmental Working Group, which made it possible to identify specific projects in priority areas.”

“The agreements reached today demonstrate that this bilateral platform contributes to improving the framework conditions for further rapprochement of government and business circles, as well as practical promotion of mutual trade and investment. Kazakhstan is a resource-rich country with unique opportunities. Germany is interested in further deepening trade and economic cooperation in the way of the ongoing economic and social reforms in the country.”

In his speech, Mr Sharlapaev stressed that the strategic synergy between Kazakhstan and Germany, together with a convenient geographical location at the crossroads of intercontinental transport routes, including energy supply routes, strengthens Kazakhstan’s position as a regional investment hub and one of the key players in the global energy arena.

“The development of the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route
(Middle Corridor) is of great importance for Kazakhstan as a reliable supplier of energy resources and strategic goods to Europe,” he said. “Strengthening Kazakhstan’s industrial potential is also among the strategic areas of cooperation with Germany.”

19 Feb 2024

Central Asia, Home, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Business & Economy, Kazakhstan, Features

EDB Reports Economic Growth in Three Central Asian Countries

June 27, 2024
By Times of Central Asia

The Eurasian Development Bank (EDB) has released the latest Macroeconomic Review for its six member states — Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Tajikistan.

In the face of a challenging external economic environment, the EDB region saw a strong recovery in 2023, with the aggregate GDP of the six nations increasing by almost 4%. According to EDB analysts, this growth was propelled by internal drivers such as robust consumer and investment demand, as well as effective adjustments in production to accommodate changing operating conditions.

In Central Asia, Kazakhstan’s economy showed particularly robust growth, surpassing 5% by the end of 2023, largely due to government programs aimed at unlocking the country’s investment potential. Investment and trade increased by 13.7% and 11.3% respectively over the year.

Inflation in Kazakhstan continued to decline, with the year-on-year inflation rate dropping from 9.8% in 2023 to 9.5% in January 2024, laying the groundwork for further monetary policy easing.

Kyrgyzstan’s GDP grew by 6.2% in 2023, supported by stronger consumer demand and increased investment activity. Inflation in the country halved to 7.3% year-on-year in 2023, but the National Bank kept its discount rate unchanged at 13% per annum due to persistent pro-inflationary risks. Furthermore, abnormally cold weather in December-January 2022-23 contributed to an increase in production from the energy sector.

However, there are factors that still hinder the pace of growth for businesses in the country. Against a backdrop of persistent, pro-inflationary risks, the National Bank of the Kyrgyz Republic is maintaining its base lending rate at 13 percent per annum to help control price growth.

“We believe that domestic demand will weaken against the backdrop of constraining monetary policy conditions and the projected state budget surplus. According to our estimates, GDP will grow by 4.5 percent in 2024,” EDB analysts report.

For its part, the Ministry of Economy and Commerce of Kyrgyzstan said that the greatest contribution to GDP growth was made by industrial production. According to the department, the economy received an additional boost due to an increase in the output of basic metals. As has been reported previously, Kyrgyz gold miners have exported a record amount of gold in recent years.

In Tajikistan, strong domestic demand and increased exports drove an 8.3% GDP growth in 2023. Inflation declined to 3.8% year-on-year at the end of 2023, close to the lower bound of the National Bank’s target range.

Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan were not included in the report as they aren’t EDB member countries. However, according to local media reports, they also showed strong growth at the end of 2023. The Uzbek economy grew by 6 percent, mainly due to growth in industry and increased agricultural output in agriculture.

Turkmenistan’s GDP in 2023 showed growth of 6.3 percent — mainly due to growth in the economic spheres of trade, industrial production and agriculture. According to international organizations, Turkmenistan’s GDP has almost doubled in the last five years to $82 billion from $46.5 billion. Turkmen authorities are actively investing in the oil & gas sector, which is their main source of export revenue.