en.trend.az  

 

January 16, 2014

 

The Uzbek foreign minister and the head of the U.S diplomatic mission in Tashkent, George Krol have discussed the prospects of developing Uzbek-US cooperation this year, the Uzbek Foreign Ministry reported today.

In particular, a schedule of upcoming bilateral contacts was considered at various levels. The practical issues of holding the first meeting of the Joint Commission on Scientific and Technological Cooperation were discussed, according to a statement.

The Uzbek-U.S intergovernmental agreement on scientific and technical cooperation was signed in Tashkent in December 2010 during U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's visit to Uzbekistan.

The agreement creates the legal framework for cooperation among the state agencies, research centres, universities and private companies of the two countries in the field of science and technology.

The purpose of the agreement is to strengthen the scientific and technological opportunities of the parties, expand and develop the relations between scientific and technological communities of both countries, as well as facilitate the technical and scientific cooperation for peaceful purposes in the areas of mutual interest.

en.trend.az  

 

January 16, 2014

 

Uzbekistan and Russia approved a plan of action to implement the Uzbek- Russian intergovernmental economic cooperation programme for 2013-2017 during a meeting of the inter-governmental commission in Moscow on Wednesday, a representative of the Uzbek government told Trend on Thursday.

The document was signed by the co-chairmen of the commission from the Uzbek and Russian sides - Uzbek First Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Rustam Azimov and Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak.

During the meeting, the sides discussed the development of business and investment relations between the two countries, cooperation in oil and gas, inter-bank and customs areas.

Both sides stressed that the agreements reached during President Karimov's official visit to Russia in April 2013 laid a solid foundation for further expansion of mutually beneficial trade and economic cooperation between the two countries.

One of the main results of the joint work was the ratification of the agreement on the promotion and mutual protection of foreign investments between the Russian and Uzbek governments and Uzbekistan's decision to join the CIS free trade zone.

The Chambers of Commerce of Russia and Uzbekistan will continue interaction through business councils and exchange of information, as well as commercial and investment proposals on the establishment of prospective relations between production and trade enterprises in different spheres of industry.

It is also planned to continue cooperation on the mutual supply of products in demand produced by Uzbek and Russian enterprises. Russian is the largest trade partner of Uzbekistan with a 30 percent share in total foreign trade turnover.

Currently, around 885 Russian-Uzbek companies operate in Uzbekistan and representations of some 102 Russian enterprises have been accredited in this country.

Around 489 companies with Uzbek capital operate in Russia. Russian-Uzbek cooperation is actively developing in the sphere of fuel and energy. The largest Russian oil and gas companies successfully and effectively operate in Uzbekistan.

Nearly 200 interstate, intergovernmental and interagency documents, including the Strategic Partnership Agreement (June 16, 2004) and Agreement on Allied Relationships (November 14, 2005) are the legal base for bilateral cooperation.

uzdaily.com  

 

January 14, 2014

 

LUKOIL's Board of Directors held a meeting in Moscow on 13 January to summarize the company's preliminary performance results from 2013 and set priorities for 2014.

In particular, the Board of Directors of LUKOIL determined priority projects, which will be implemented in Uzbekistan in 2014.

In line with the decision, implementation of the projects "Kandym Early Gas" and "Complete Development of Gissar" in Uzbekistan will be one of priorities of the Russian company in 2014.

"LUKOIL Uzbekistan Operating Company" LLC commenced implementation of the Project "Early Gas of Kandym Group of Fields and Development of North Par of Shady Block" in October 2013.

Concept of the Project provides for production of gas at Kuvachi - Alat field and its primary treatment at Kuvachi Gas Primary Treatment Facility, transportation of gas to North Shady Gas Primary Treatment Facility through pipeline 60 km long, production of gas at North Shady field and its primary treatment at North Shady Gas Primary Treatment Facility, transportation of treated gas from North Shady Gas Primary Treatment Facility to tie-in point of Dengizkul field - Mubarek Gas Processing Plant sour gas pipeline, then Dengizkul Booster Compressor Station.

Facilities to be constructed in the process of the first Project stage implementation include besides others 12 wells at Kuvachi - Alat field, 9 wells at North Shady field, field gas pipelines with total length of 130 km, two gas primary treatment units, motor roads 170 km long, renovation of 20 km of the existing motor road North -  Shady - Dengizkul BCS, 150 km of power transmission lines, power substation at Kuvachi-Alat field, 13 bridges and crossings over existing canals, etc.

In the second stage of the Project implementation to be commenced in the second half-year 2014 it is planned to construct booster compressor stations at Kuvachi - Alat and North Shady blocks in order to meet engineering requirements to pressure and temperature of transported gas. At the same time it is planned to construct additional facilities at the fields, including drilling of new wells and their completion.

LUKOIL joined South-West Gissar project in March 2008. In the contract area of Kashkadarya region there are 7 fields, gas condensate fields: Adamtash, Dzharkuduk - Yangi Kyzylcha, Gumbulak, Amanata and Pachkamar, South Kyzylbayrak oil and gas condensate field and Koshkuduk oil field, with approved reserves of about 100 million TOE.

PSA for the project was signed in January 2007 for the period of 36 years and came into effect in April 2007. Investments into the project will exceed US$1.2 billion, level of gas production will be 4.2 billion cubic meters per year.

azernews.az  

 

January 16, 2014

 

Vietnamese PetroVietnam Exploration Production Corporation (PVEP) has started the implementation of a geological exploration work program at the Molabaur investment block in the Ustyurt region of Uzbekistan.

Representative of Kossor Operating Company LLC, which is the operator of PVEP projects in the country, told Trend Agency on January 14 that a tender was announced for 2D seismic data processing.

The tender results will be announced in March, and the entire volume of seismic work will be held by late 2014.

The company representative didn't specify the volume of seismic exploration work planned to be carried out at Molabaur investment block.

In June 2012, PVEP and Uzbekneftegaz signed an agreement of geological exploration on the Molabaur investment block with a total area of 3,600 kilometers for five years. The investments of the Vietnamese company will amount to $61.6 million.

Uzbekistan is rich in hydrocarbon resources. About 60 percent of the Uzbek territory possesses potential oil and gas reserves. Uzbekistan is ranked third among the countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States and fifteenth in the world in terms of annual natural gas production.

The projected reserves of hydrocarbons are about 10 billion tons of standard fuel, while prospective ones amount to about 2 billion tons.

Currently, there are five oil and gas regions in Uzbekistan - Ustyurt, Bukhara-Khiva, Surkhandarya, Hissar and Fergana - and three promising ones (Khorezm, Middle Syr Darya and Zarafshan).

uzdaily.com  

 

January 14, 2014

 

The Government of Uzbekistan issued a resolution "On approval of list of new medical equipment, spare parts and components and materials to medical equipment, exempted from payment of customs duties (except customs registration fee) at their imports" on 31 December 2013.

The resolution approved a list of new medical equipment, spare parts and components and materials to medical equipment, which will be exempted from payment of customs duties at their imports (except customs registration fee).

The list includes 19 types of products, equipment, spare parts and materials. Earlier, the list included only 14 types of products.

The list includes refrigerators for medical purpose, scales, automobiles for medical purpose, wheelchair for people with disabilities, microscopes, etc.

The preferences on customs duties at import of medical products and equipment, included to the list, were provided till 1 January 2018.

gratanet.com  

 

January 11, 2014

 

Presidential decree On Projections for Main Macroeconomic Indicators and Parameters of the State Budget of the Republic of Uzbekistan for 2014 year issued on December 25, 2013 sets the scene for amendments to key existing tax as well as new obligatory payments to be introduced in Uzbekistan effective from 1 January 2014. Withholding tax rates applicable to non-residents shall remain unaffected. Below we highlight the main changes that we consider are of relevance to your business.

 

REDUCED TAX:

• Profit Tax for legal entities lowered from 9% to 8%.
• The lowest tax scale on Personal Income Tax (up to five Minimum Monthly Wages) reduced from 8% to 7.5%.
• Excise tax levied on customs value of new vehicles manufactured in and imported from Russia and Ukraine reduced from 5% to 2%.

TAX INCREASES:

• Obligatory insurance premium deductible from personal to non-budget Pension Fund rose from 6% to 6.5%.
• Excise tax rates applicable to selected home-made product items, i.e average excise tax increase on alcoholic products including beer represents 17%, cigarettes - by almost 30% and vegetable (cottonseed) oil - by 10%. Also, excise tax levied on customs value of imported malted beer rose from 70% to 100%.
• Tax for using (consuming) water resources will rise by 20%.
• Property tax to be paid by legal entities will go up to 4% from 3.5%.
• Property tax to be paid by private individuals will grow by 14.5% on average.
• Land tax applicable to legal entities and private individuals will be increased by 20%.
• Tax on consumption of petrol and diesel fuels for vehicles will grow from 240 to 265 soums per litre, condensed gas - from 165 to 180 soums per litre, and compressed gas - from 200 to 220 soums per cubic metro.
• Charge for using a mobile number imposed on legal entities by mobile communication operators (cellular companies) will increase from 500 to 600 soums a month.

NEW TAXES:

• Excise tax will be imposed on imported motor-scooters at 10% of customs value.
• A territory zoning system has been changed in Tashkent. Now there are 5 zones instead of 14. Now land tax imposed on legal entities for 1 hectare of land plot shall equal to 1 mln. soums for zone 5, and 75 mln. soums for zone 1. Tax from natural persons for the land provided for individual housing construction shall amount starting from 170 soums per 1 sq.m for zone 5 and till 430 soums for zone 1.
• A minimum duty of 3% to be imposed on purchase of every vehicle manufactured in Uzbekistan, Russia and Ukraine from April 1, 2014.
• Minimum rent fees (for taxation purposes) for 1 sq.m. area of non-residential premises, to be let on lease by natural persons have been established as follow:

- 6000 soums per month for Tashkent city;

- 4000 soums per month for Nukus city;

- 2000 soums per month for other communities.

 

• Minimum rent fees (for taxation purposes) for vehicles, to be let on lease by natural persons have been established as follow (for one vehicle per month):

- 220 000 soums for cars;

- 430 000 soums for minibuses, buses and trucks.

• Annual obligatory re-evaluation of main assets are canceled for microfirms and small enterprises, and now it shall be carried out once in three year. 

trend.az  

 

January 15, 2014

 

"The reconstruction of "Guzar-Buhara-Nukus-Beineu" highway section with the length of 181 kilometers in Uzbekistan has been completed", the representative of the state concern "Uzavtoyul" told Trend.

According to the representative of the agency, the project with the total cost of 1,735 billion dollars reconstructed two highway sections; a 90 kilometer section in the autonomous Republic of Karakalpakstan and a 40 kilometer section in Khorezm Province (both are located in the north-west of Uzbekistan).

The Korean Posco Еngineering and Сonstruction and China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC) have implemented this project. The funding of the project has been realized with credit in the amount of 75.3 billion dollars from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and 98.2 billion dollars from the Uzbek government.

Highway A-380 with the length of 1.2 thousand kilometers is a part of the transit passage connecting Uzbekistan with Afghanistan and Turkmenistan in the south and with Kazakhstan in the north.

At present time, Uzbekistan is working on the construction of a national highway at a total cost of about 2.6 billion dollars.

The project entails construction of four highway sections on the route Beineu-Kungrad-Buhara-Samarkand-Tashkent-Andijan-, Buhara-Alat, Buhara-Karshi-Guzar-Termez and Samarkand-Guzar with a total length of 1.2 thousand kilometers by the end of 2015.

There will also be constructed 400 kilometers of four-lane highways with cement facing, 813 kilometers of four-lane highways with concrete pavement and 288 kilometers two-lane highways with concrete pavement.

The Uzbek government with help from ADB, the International Bank of Reconstruction and Development, the credit line of the Chinese government to the member-states of Shanghai organization and other international financial institutions funds the $1.68 billion project.

The overall size of the Uzbek highway is about 150 thousand kilometers. Forty-five thousand kilometers are main highways of common use, and includes 3.2 thousand kilometers of international highway and 18.8 thousand kilometers highways of state importance.

Twenty international transport routes and directions pass through the territory of Uzbekistan.

worldbank.org  

 

January 14, 2014

 

[Extract.  Read full report here]

 

Economic activity strengthened in the Europe and Central Asia region(1) in 2013 supported by strengthening external demand. The return to growth in the Euro Area in the second quarter of 2013 supported real side activity in the region, particularly in the Central and Eastern European countries, due to strong trade linkages. In Turkey, buoyant domestic demand underpinned acceleration in growth to 4.3 percent in 2013 from 2.2 percent in 2012.

Performance among the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) has been mixed. Among energy-exporting countries (Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan), activity has remained strong, reflecting relative strength in energy-related commodity prices, expansion of production in extractive sectors, and robust growth in domestic demand.

In contrast, among non-energy exporters, weaknesses in key commodity prices cut into incomes and activity, with Belarus, Kyrgyz Republic and Ukraine experiencing the most negative terms of trade impacts. Capital inflows to the region began strong, but weakened after the US tapering announcement in the mid-year and heightened volatility thereafter, resulting in a slight decline of 1.6 percent year-on-year to $119.3 billion in 2013. Across the region, the banking sector remains weak, saddled with overhang of nonperforming loans (e.g., Albania, Bulgaria, Kazakhstan, Romania, and Serbia).  [Read full report here].