ZCZC
BCN-27
UZBEKISTAN-RUSSIA-DIPLOMACY-ECONOMY
Putin looks for reset with first visit to new Uzbek leader
TASHKENT, Oct 18, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Russian President Vladimir Putin starts
his first state visit to Uzbekistan under new leadership on Thursday as the
Kremlin attempts to recalibrate a once thorny relationship with billions of
dollars in business deals.
The last time Putin jetted off to ex-Soviet Central Asia’s most populous
republic in 2016, Uzbekistan was in the throes of political uncertainty
following the death of long-term ruler Islam Karimov.
Now the two countries are preparing to sign contracts worth over $20
billion, more than half of which will be for an atomic power station built
with Russian financing in the west of the country.
Karimov, an obstinate authoritarian wary of Moscow’s influence became
Uzbekistan’s paramount leader even before the country’s formal independence
from the Kremlin in 1991.
More than two years after his death, his protege Shavkat Mirziyoyev, has
used significant political and economic reforms to position himself as the
republic’s undisputed leader.
While publicly Mirziyoyev has honoured Karimov’s memory he has also
abandoned some of his predecessor’s more repressive policies while projecting
an image of a country more open to foreign investment and tourism.
Despite the pair meeting in Moscow last year, the two-day visit carries
special significance for both men, according to Konstantin Kalachev, head of
the Moscow-based Political Expert Group think tank.
“For Putin it is important to show he has partners. For Mirziyoyev it is
important to show how respected he is in Moscow,” Kalachev told AFP.
In the long-term, Kalachev said, Moscow’s aim will be to turn Uzbekistan
“from a partner into an ally.”
MORE/HR/1018
ZCZC
BCN-28
UZBEKISTAN-RUSSIA-DIPLOMACY-ECONOMY 2 LAST TASHKENT
– Economic sweeteners –
The trip offers an opportunity for Moscow to reinforce its economic clout
in the Muslim-majority country of 32 million whose main export to Russia
remains people — around two million Uzbeks are estimated to be working or
seeking work there. They are a key source of hard currency remittances back
home in Uzbekistan.
The high point of Putin’s visit is likely to be a groundlaying ceremony
for the nuclear power plant.
The project is worth $11 billion and is expected to come online in 2028,
according to Putin’s foreign policy aide Yury Ushakov, who called Uzbekistan
the Kremlin’s “strategic partner” in the region.
The plant has “breakthrough” importance for Uzbekistan, according to
Bakhtiyor Ergashev of the Ma’no Centre for Research Initiatives in Tashkent.
It will be the first of its kind in Central Asia, where attitudes to
nuclear power have been shaped by the Chernobyl nuclear plant tragedy and
atomic weapons testing in the steppes of Uzbekistan’s neighbour Kazakhstan.
The nadir in relations between Russia and Uzbekistan came about in 2012
after Tashkent walked out of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation
(CSTO), a Moscow-led military bloc that now consists of six ex-Soviet
members.
Relations picked up towards the end of Karimov’s reign, however, and have
been lifted to a “new level” by investment-hungry Mirziyoyev’s ascent to
power, according to Ergashev.
Nevertheless, that doesn’t mean Uzbekistan will be rushing to re-join the
CSTO or other Moscow-led blocs, he said.
Uzbekistan’s foreign policy remains based on “keeping equal distance from
the main centres of global power”, of which Moscow is one, Ergashev told AFP.
BSS/AFP/HR/1020