American-Uzbekistan Chamber of Commerce
Business Newsletter

 

Week in Review:


May 25, 2012 - June 1, 2012  

 

In this issue
AUCC in Brief
Boeing-787 Dreamliner to land in Tashkent on June 1
GM Uzbekistan Plans to Increase Production, Export
Third line of Uzbek pipeline to China to be built in 2015
Talks on Uzbekistan's Accession to Free Trade Zone Treaty to be Continued
WB Vice President: Uzbekistan will Turn into Industrialized Middle-Income Country by Mid-Century
Banking in the Eastern Neighbours and Central Asia - Challenges and Opportunities
Contact Us
AUCC Members
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AUCC in Brief 

Established in 1993, the American-Uzbekistan Chamber of Commerce (AUCC) is a private, non-profit trade association representing interests of U.S. businesses ranging in size from small private enterprises to large, multinational corporations conducting business in Uzbekistan.

Our Mission: To advocate the views of the business community to ensure that private sector positions are considered during the development of key policies that impact American businesses and the future of U.S.-Uzbekistan relations.

Our Objective: To serve the needs of its members by strengthening commercial relations between the United States and Uzbekistan. 

Boeing-787 Dreamliner to land in Tashkent on June 1

http://en.ca-news.org of 6/1/2012

   

New airplane Boeing 787 Dreamliner will land in Tashkent on June 1, 2012 within the last leg of international trips.

The airplane will depart Boeing Field for Sydney, Australia, which will be the seventh leg of trips.

Within the tour, Boeing 787 Dreamliner will land in Sydney (24 May) and Darwin (31 May, Australia), Auckland (29 May, New Zealand), Tashkent (1 June, Uzbekistan) and Casablanca (3 June, Morocco), reported the Boeing company.

Boeing expects that about 6,000 people will be able to see new aircraft during the upcoming stops. Airline officials, government representatives, Boeing employees, suppliers and members of the media will tour the airplane during this leg of the tour.

The Boeing 787 Dreamliner is a long-range, mid-size wide-body, twin-engine jet airliner developed by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. It seats 210 to 290 passengers, depending on the variant.

Boeing states that it is the company's most fuel-efficient airliner and the world's first major airliner to use composite materials for most of its construction. According to Boeing, the 787 consumes 20% less fuel than the similarly-sized 767.

Uzbekistan Havo Yollari, a national airline of Uzbekistan, also ordered Boeing 787 Dreamliner. It is expected that the company will receive two Boeing 787 Dreamliner by the end of 2016.

GM Uzbekistan Plans to Increase Production, Export

http://uzdaily.com of 6/1/2012

   

GM Uzbekistan, an Uzbek-US carmaker, is planning to increase exports of cars up to 120,000 units in 2013, which is 1.4 times more compared to 2011.

UzAvtoSanoat said that GM Uzbekistan plans to export 90,000 cars in 2012 and 120,000 cars in 2013. The exports volume made up 85,000 cars in 2011.

GM Uzbekistan is planning to produce 240,000 cars in 2012 and increase the production volume to 270,000 in 2013.

In 2011, the production of cars at the enterprise grew by 2.1% year-on-year to 221,445 units in 2011.

Third line of Uzbek pipeline to China to be built in 2015

http://uzdaily.com of 6/1/2012      

  

Construction of the third line of the Uzbek part of gas pipeline "Central Asia - China" will be completed in January 2015, RIA Novosti reported.

This week, President of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov signed a resolution to approve mechanism on implementation of the project on construction of the third line of the Uzbekistan-China gas pipeline.

In line with the approved schedule of the project, construction of the first part of the third line of Uzbekistan-China gas pipeline with extension of 318 km (from Gazli to border of Uzbekistan-Kazakhstan) will be completed in March 2014.

In April 2014, it is planned to complete construction of compressor station and commissioned for use.

Construction of the second part of the third line of the gas pipeline with the extension of 212 km (from border area of Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan to Gazli), compressor station and related infrastructure will be completed in January 2015.

In line with the resolution, income of foreign banks and financial institutions, received from allocating loan and income from foreign companies, received from execution of services and works, within the project are exempted from payment of income tax for the term, equal to repayment of attracted loans.

Services of Asia Trans Gas, project operator, are exempted from payment of VAT at transportation of the Uzbek gas at the period of repayment of foreign loans.

The Uzbek-Chinese venture, Asia Trans Gas, started construction of the third line of the Central Asia - China gas pipeline in December 2011. The capacity of the pipeline will reach 25 billion cubic meters of gas a year. Total length of the line is 1,840 km.

The project with the cost of US$2.2 billion will be financed due to loans of the China Development Bank and foreign direct investments of China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC).

Construction of Central Asia - China gas pipeline was started in July 2008 and completed in December 2009. The length of the line is about 7,000 km.

Talks on Uzbekistan's accession to free trade zone treaty to be continued

http://uzdaily.com of 6/1/2012

   

Heads of the government of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) will continue negotiations on accession of Uzbekistan to free trade zone agreement from 18 October 2011 to complete it to next session of the council, the chairperson of the Executive Committee of the CIS Sergei Lebedev said.

As reported earlier, during a meeting of Heads of Governments of the CIS, which took place in Ashgabat on 30 May, discussed the joining of Uzbekistan to the free trade agreement within the CIS framework.

"Today the issue of joining of Uzbekistan to the free trade zone has been discussed. A decision to support such a proposal has been made at the CIS Heads of Governments meeting," Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov said.

Next session of the Council of the heads of the governments of the CIS will be held in September 2012 in Yalta, Ukraine.

WB Vice President: Uzbekistan will Turn into Industrialized Middle-Income Country by Mid-Century

http://en.ca-news.org of 5/30/2012

   

Vice-President of the World Bank for Europe and Central Asia Philippe Le Houerou completed his four-day visit to Uzbekistan. This visit was part of a tour to Central Asia, which also included visits to Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan, reported the office of the World Bank in Tashkent on May 30.

During his visit to Uzbekistan, Le Houerou met with representatives of the Ministry of Finance and Economy to discuss key strategic and operational issues, and visited projects that are implemented with the support of the WB.

This 20th anniversary of cooperation between the World Bank and Uzbekistan is marked this year.

"The World Bank is encouraged by the strategic long-term goals for the development of Uzbekistan, which will turn the state into an industrialized country with middle income by mid-century. Country has witnessed a good economic performance, but there are important things to be done," said Le Houerou.

Le Houerou visited a project supported by the World Bank "Drainage, irrigation and improvement of wetlands" in the Southern Karakalpakstan. Project succeeded in reducing the groundwater level, which led to the desalination of irrigated lands, improvement of water quality in Amu Darya River, as well as reduction of the energy consumption of pumping stations. He visited sites in Beruni and talked to farmers about the effectiveness of the project.

"I am pleased to observe first hand progress that the country reaches. World Bank stands ready to support an ambitious program of the government, contributing not only by financial resources, but also technical expertise and international experience of the bank," said Le Houerou at the end of his visit to Uzbekistan.

Uzbekistan joined the World Bank in 1992. Currently, there are 10 projects in the process of implementation financed by the Bank, the total amount of liabilities for which amounts to $ 630 million.

Banking in the Eastern Neighbours and Central Asia - Challenges and Opportunities: a new study from the European Investment Bank

http://enpi-info.eu of 5/25/2012      

  

A study on the banking sector in the EU's Eastern Neighbours and Central Asia (ENCA) has been published by the European Investment Bank. The study examines the opportunities for growth in the banking sector in the region and discusses the challenges involved in providing an enabling environment for the development of the private sector.

"The banking sector has a key role to play as faster growth and economic diversification will require more activity in the small corporate and SME sectors," says a European Investment Bank press release announcing the publication.
According to the executive summary of the 122-page study, growth expectations for the Eastern Neighbourhood and Central Asia region have been revised downwards following the global financial crisis, but the financial sectors of these economies are still showing more potential for growth versus those of the mature western European economies, driven by the catch-up in banking penetration and differences in GDP growth.
Forecasts for 2012 and 2013 show GDP growth of around 4% for Russia and the Eastern Partners and around 6% for Central Asia. Penetration levels are at 43.3%, when measured in terms of loans over GDP and 45.6% in terms of deposits over GDP. Banking sectors were affected to varying degrees by the global crisis and now face a diverse set of challenges and opportunities.
The study says that in Russia, the authorities responded quickly with liquidity and capital support for the banking sector and although a major crisis was averted there was nevertheless an important structural impact. State owned banks gained market share in the domestic market, while their strengthened capital and liquidity positions played a role in supporting a renewed ambition for growth throughout the region, at a time when privately-owned local or foreign banks were restructuring following the crisis.
Among the other Eastern partner countries Armenia, Moldova and Georgia all suffered significant economic shocks in 2009, but avoided major banking crises, the report says. The openness of these economies and progress with market reform mean that they have good future growth potential. On the other hand Ukraine had a major banking crisis as international funding dried up, exchange rates depreciated and the pre-existing banking sector vulnerabilities came to the surface, with GDP contracting by 14.5% in Ukraine in 2009. The study says Belarus was also severely affected, though internal factors also played an important part in the resulting balance of payments problems.
The study, titled 'Banking in the Eastern Neighbours and Central Asia - Challenges and Opportunities', includes a regional overview, country-by-country sections, and a short wrap-up on EIB actions in the region. (EU Neighbourhood Info)
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Contact Information

 

The American-Uzbekistan Chamber of Commerce
1300 I Street, N.W., Suite 720W
Washington, DC 20005
phone: 202.509.3744
[email protected]
www.aucconline.com  

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