21 July, 2006

Politics
Uzbek president heads to Moscow for CIS summit
German professor says death penalty abolishment is important step
Uzbekistan opens diplomatic mission in Shanghai
Uzbek MPs visit France
Economics
Cabinet of Ministers of Uzbekistan discusses results of 1 half of 2006
Over 6.1 million tonnes of grain harvested in Uzbekistan
Seven Uzbek banks among top 1000 CIS banks
BEMW to deliver electric motors for Agro-Industrial Complex of Uzbekistan
Uzbekistan Havo Yollari presents its flight in Pakistan
Society
Over 241,900 foreign tourists visit Uzbekistan in 2005
From Amsterdam to Beijing via Samarkand

POLITICS

UZBEK PRESIDENT HEADS TO MOSCOW FOR CIS SUMMIT

President of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov left for Moscow, Russia, to attend informal summit of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) on Friday, 21 July.

GERMAN PROFESSOR SAYS DEATH PENALTY ABOLISHMENT IS IMPORTANT STEP

Abolishment of death penalty in Uzbekistan will be importance step on development of the country and deepening humanism principles in criminal legislation, Professor Rainer Keller of Hamburg University said.

Uzbekistan will guarantee human rights to its citizens, which meets international norms, he said. Keller noted that capital punishment is irrational and it helps nobody.

He said the idea that death penalty stops people to commit crimes is not unfounded. Professor of German university said many countries studied on this topic and nowhere it was proved that capital punishment is as effective as long-term imprisonment.

UZBEKISTAN OPENS DIPLOMATIC MISSION IN SHANGHAI

Uzbekistan opened its general consulate in Shanghai, China.

The report said it is the second diplomatic mission of Uzbekistan in China. Uzbekistan opened its embassy in Beijing in May 1995.

The agency said the increased level of bilateral relations, development of cooperation in many spheres pushed Uzbekistan to open its diplomatic mission in largest city and economic centre of China.

It added that citizens of eastern coast of China will be easier to obtain visas to Uzbekistan. The report said general consulate in Shanghai became the 42nd diplomatic mission of Uzbekistan abroad.

UZBEK MPS VISIT FRANCE

Delegation of lawmakers from Legislative Chamber of Oliy Majlis of the Republic of Uzbekistan led by Deputy Speaker Mashkura Safaeva visited France.

Delegation members studied the activity of the National Assembly – the lower chamber of the French parliament, according to report.

Uzbek MPs learned about the experience of their French colleagues o¬n the consensus committee, methods of electronic voting and ballot counting.

They were impressed with the National Assembly library. The stacks of the library keep the valuable documents and books o¬n the history of French parliamentary experience, the report also said.

While in talks at the Senate the parties have concluded that democratic building process in the two countries has had many similar features.

“Parliaments of Uzbekistan and France closely cooperate o¬n bettering the legislative activity and at the same plan to enhance such interaction,” - Jean-Louis Erin, director of the department of science analysis of legislation at the French Senate, said in an interview to the Information Agency “Jahon”.

He believed that Uzbekistan’s decision to cancel the application of capital punishment wasn’t o¬nly of legal, but also political significance in the lives of people. It was the most important decision by Uzbekistan government, he added.

“Our parliaments must jointly utilize the opportunities available for the cooperation in this direction,” – Mr. Erin has underscored, “France decided to reject the capital punishment yet back in 1980 during the presidency of Francois Mitterrand, and maintains a great experience in the given issue”.

“Experience we have gained during the trip will efficiently impact our lawmaking activity,” – Anatoly Kozlov, the Uzbek MP, has said.

ECONOMICS

CABINET OF MINISTERS OF UZBEKISTAN DISCUSSES RESULTS OF 1 HALF OF 2006

Cabinet of Ministers of Uzbekistan held a session on 19 July to discuss results of socio-economic development of the country in the first half of 2006 and determined additional measures to achieve set forecasts for 2006, press service of Uzbek Cabinet Ministers said.

Prime Minister Shavkat Mirziyayev chaired the meeting.

It was noted that the adopted measures in the first half of 2006 on expansion of structural reforms, modernization and liberalization of economy, strengthening of private sector promoted high economic growth,

The meeting noted that the gross domestic product (GDP) of Uzbekistan increased by 6.6% year-on-year in January-June 2006, industrial output rose by 9.7% year-on-year and agriculture production grew by 7.2% year-on-year in the reporting period.

The trade in the country increased by 11.6% and services rose by 13.3% in six months of 2006. Current account balance surplus made up US$883 million.

The state budget was implemented with 1.2% surplus to GDP. The inflation rate made up 3.5%. It was noted that the Uzbek banks allocated credits for 240 billion soums in the reporting period. The meeting said the share of small businesses in GDP increased.

Some 240 enterprises and large objects were privatized in six months of 2006, including 107 companies on zero-redemption price.

The meeting said the country is implementing several large scale investment projects, including Tashguzar-Baysun-Kumkurgan railway and Uzbekistan electricity line.

The session also considered issues on realization of investment programmes for 2006. It was said introduction of high-effective technologies and equipment and attraction of foreign direct investments required. The meeting said some 1.625 trillion soums of capital investments were attracted, but some investment projects realized slowly.

The meeting noted that over 12,000 heads of cattle was realized to population. Employment Fund issued credits for 6.15 billion soums in the reporting period. Over 78,000 new jobs were created in the sphere of home labour, including 22,500 on agreement with enterprises.

The services for 890 billion soums were rendered to populations. It was said 210 specialized fruit and vegetable and viticulture collective farm were reorganized to 39,000 private farms. Some 195 agro-industrial firms started their operation.

OVER 6.1 MILLION TONNES OF GRAIN HARVESTED IN UZBEKISTAN

Farmers of Uzbekistan have harvested more than 6.1 million tonnes of grain this season. President of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov congratulated the country's farmers with the success.

"For the last seven or eight years, we have been proving that we have attained grain independence, our dream of several decades," the head of the state said in his message to farmers," he said in his message.

"Grain crop productivity has increased 4.5 times in our country compared to first years of independence, while total harvest has grown 6.5 times," Islam Karimov noted.

"There is huge enthusiasm and labour of our honest and self-sacrificing dehqans and farmers in the achieved success, who have produced large harvest of grain despite water shortages last autumn and this spring."

Over 81% of this season's grain harvest was produced by farmers, which demonstrates that farmers are becoming a leading and deciding force, the President noted.

SEVEN UZBEK BANKS AMONG TOP 1000 CIS BANKS

Interfax-Centre for Economic Analysis (Interfax-CEA) listed seven Uzbek bank among top 1000 largest CIS banks on the results of 2005.

The rating reflects both figures of banking system of CIS states and impact of banking groups to CIS market.

The rating includes banks from Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, Kyrgyz Republic, Uzbekistan and Moldavia.

As of 1 January 2006, some 1,580 banks operated in these ten countries, of which 76.3% fell to share of Russia and rest 375 banks operated in other states.

Russia also leads on volume of assets of the banks. The share of Russia in total volume assets made up 76%. It should be noted that the share of Russia decreased by 2.8% year-on-year in 2005.

The share of Uzbekistan in total assets decreased by 0.4%. At the same time, the share of Ukraine and Kazakhstan in total assets increased by 1.9% and 1.3% respectively. The share of other countries did not change.

Interfax-CEA said it could not gather information on all banks, but said it has information on over 60% of CIS countries. Without Russia, this figure makes up 82.1%. The information includes official reports of the banks on national standards of financial reporting as of 1 January 2006.

In final table of "Interfax-1000: CIS Banks. 2005 results", four Russian banks were listed among top 5 banks, including Sberbank Russia (assets – US$86.94bn), Vneshtorgbank (US$21.75bn), Gazprombank (US$15bn) and Alfa Bank (US$8bn).

National Bank of Uzbekistan for Foreign Economic Activity (NBU) was on the 29th place (US$2.44bn), Asaka Bank is on the 108th (US$512.8bn), Uzpromstroybank – 122th place (US$459.9m) and Ipoteka Bank – 199th (US$246.9m).

Savdogar Bank was placed to 605th place with US$51 million assets and UzDaewoo Bank (now UzKDB) listed on 637th place with US$46.2 million assets and Trust Bank was on 859th place (US$26.6m).

NBU was 98th place on growth of assets and 29th place on growth of own capital (-3.9% - US$379.8m). NBU also took 24th place among top 100 most capitalized banks of CIS with US$2.44 billion assets and US$379.9 million own capital).

BEMW TO DELIVER ELECTRIC MOTORS FOR AGRO-INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX OF UZBEKISTAN

Baranchinsky Electromechanical Works (BEMW) won the tender for the delivery of electric motors for agro-industrial complex of Uzbekistan, according to the Department for Foreign Economic Relations of the BEMW Svetlana Toropova. The tender was invited by UCUB Open Joint-Stock Company under the Ministry of Agriculture of Uzbekistan.

"The supplies on the tender won are subdivided into two contracts," Toropova said. "The first has already been registered at UzConsultService, customs office, Turon Bank of Tashkent city and filed up for currency conversion. The letter of credit is expected in the early August." Under the first contract, three types of electric motors of different capacities worth the total of US$65,360 will be delivered. Supplies on the second contract are expected in September.

UZBEKISTAN HAVO YOLLARI PRESENTS ITS FLIGHT IN PAKISTAN

Uzbekistan Havo Yollari (Uzbekistan Airways) presented a new flight Tashkent-Lahore-Tashkent in Lahore, Pakistan, on 19 July.

The company said the flight carried out three times a week – on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.

The Uzbek air carrier said the flight should contribute to further development of relations between Uzbekistan and Pakistan.

SOCIETY

OVER 241,900 FOREIGN TOURISTS VISIT UZBEKISTAN IN 2005

Over 241,900 foreign tourists from 117 countries visited Uzbekistan in 2005. The largest number of tourists came from Austria, Germany, UK, USA, Italy, Japan, Russia, France and South Korea.

According to Uzbektourism data, the companies in Uzbekistan rendered 39.8 billion soums of tourism services. Net income comprised 560.1 million soums and revenue from visit of foreign tourists made up US$28 million or 32.2 billion soums. The revenue from internal tourism reached 7.6 billion soums.

Uzbekistan has over 4,000 architectural monuments, many of which are unique. Currently, 408 firms and enterprises work in tourism market, of which 326 are private firms.

FROM AMSTERDAM TO BEIJING VIA SAMARKAND

This route was selected by the organizers of the international motor rally. The uniqueness of the rally is in the fact that only classic cars are allowed to participate. It is described as the most exciting and spectacular event for classic cars ever. The caravan of vintage cars will be crossing fourteen countries on two continents between 15 July and 13 August.

Jan Vermeer, a famous businessman from the Netherlands and the chairman of the Classic Car Endurance Rally Organisation Committee initiated the event, representatives of UzbekTourism NC told media at a press conference.

The cars started at the Dam Square of Amsterdam on 15 July. They will run through 14 countries, and most part of the route coincides with the Silk Route. And finally the caravan will arrive at the Tiananmen Square of Beijing on August 13, 2006. The residents of the Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Bulgaria, Turkey, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and China will be able to see the cars on their way.

84 teams of two persons driving the cars of different brands will cross two continents thereby covering some 17,500 kilometers.

The organizers plan that rally participants will be in Uzbekistan on 27-29 July 2006, and will follow the route from Ashkhabad through Bukhara, Shahrisabz, Samarkand, Tashkent and further to Bishkek.

According to Jan Vermeer, the spirit of competition, culture, friendship and craving for adventures lie at the heart of this unique, exotic and remarkable event. The rally should require the best efforts of its participants.

The administrations of Amsterdam and Beijing, the Ministry of Economy and the Tourism Bureau of the Netherlands provided support in the organization of the rally. Uzbektourism and several private tourist firms will provide technical and organizational support on the territory of Uzbekistan.