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Uzbekistan: Central Asia
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Uzbekistan was the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic (SSR) of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) from 1924 until 1991, when it gained its independence. In 1992 Uzbekistan was officially designated a secular and democratic republic with the ratification of its first post-Soviet constitution. However, many of the centralized controls that were characteristic of the Soviet period remain entrenched in the economic and political structures of Uzbekistan. Although the constitution guarantees a multiparty system, the republic’s president, Islam Karimov, has established an authoritarian-style regime that has been intolerant of opposition groups. Karimov has ... proceeded cautiously with market-oriented economic reforms, and the government retains control over most sectors of the economy.
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Uzbekistan is a dry, landlocked country of which 11% consists of intensely cultivated, irrigated river valleys. More than 60% of its population lives in densely populated rural communities. Uzbekistan is now the world's second-largest cotton exporter, a large producer of gold and oil, and a regionally significant producer of chemicals and machinery. Following independence in December 1991, the government sought to prop up its Soviet-style command economy with subsidies and tight controls on production and prices. Uzbekistan responded to the negative external conditions generated by the Asian and Russian financial crises by emphasizing import substitute industrialization and by tightening export and currency controls within its already largely closed economy. The government, while aware of the need to improve the investment climate, sponsors measures that often increase, not decrease, the government's control over business decisions.
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Uzbekistan and most of its Asian neighbors ... have a clear desire to tap the power of information and communication technology (ICT) to improve education and provide students with the skills they will need to compete later in life. Many have anchored the adoption of ICT into their education development strategies.
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Uzbekistan has the largest economic potential among the Central Asian Republics and is distinguished by many indicators both of industrial and agricultural development. Its potential lies in the agriculture sector in terms of farming, fruit, vegetables and cotton growing.
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In view of its high debt and poverty rates, Uzbekistan joined a CIS-7 initiative created in 2001 by international lending organizations to reform the financial structure of new loans. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) suspended aid to Uzbekistan in 1996, citing insufficient economic reform, but suggested it will resume financial assistance in 2003 if adequate reforms are enacted. The European Bank for Reconstruction & Development (EBRD) warned in March 2003 that Uzbekistan’s human rights record and rampant corruption could put funding in jeopardy, and in March 2004 suspended "business as usual" with the Uzbek government. The Asian Development Bank anticipates assistance of approximately $150 million annually from 2003-2005, but has ... expressed concern at the Uzbek government’s ability to achieve needed reforms.
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Uzbekistan generally lies between the two largest rivers of Central Asia, the Amu Darya and Syr Darya. These two roughly parallel rivers both have their headwaters in the mountains east of Uzbekistan and follow northwesterly courses toward the Aral Sea, a saltwater lake straddling the border between Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. Since the early 1960s the Aral Sea has shrunk to less than half its former size, and dry land has separated the remaining water into two main lakes. Uzbekistan’s largest river is the Amu Darya. This river is formed by the confluence of the Panj and Vakhsh rivers on the extreme southwestern border of Tajikistan, near the southeastern tip of Uzbekistan. The Amu Darya traverses a course generally parallel to, and at times part of, Uzbekistan’s southern borders with Afghanistan and Turkmenistan, then turns due north through Uzbekistan’s Qoraqalpogh Autonomous Republic toward the southern section of the Aral Sea.
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