American-Uzbekistan Chamber of Commerce
BUSINESS NEWSLETTER
  
Week in Review:
 
May 16, 2014 - May 23, 2014
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2014 Opens a New Era for the Chamber
  

Since 1993 the American-Uzbekistan Chamber of Commerce has been at the forefront of advancing trade and business relations between the US and the Republic of Uzbekistan. AUCC prides itself in catering to the needs of our members, providing them with a platform to interact with policy makers in the US and the Republic of Uzbekistan and ensuring that bilateral commercial relations continue to be on the governments' top agenda.   

 

For the last twenty years AUCC has been a vigorous advocate of the views of the business community to ensure that private sector positions are considered during the development of policies that impact American businesses and the future of U.S.-Uzbekistan relations.  While 2013 concluded our celebrations for the 20th anniversary it also opened a new era for the chamber and our members.

 

We are delighted that today AUCC continues to be a well-known organization that is recognized for its strength and ability to work closely with a great number of partner organizations. AUCC enjoys excellent working relations with the Embassy of the Republic of Uzbekistan in Washington, D.C., the Government of the Republic of Uzbekistan, Uzbek ministries, associations and organizations as well as the executive and legislative branches of the U.S. AUCC also coordinates its efforts with a great number of international financial institutions, business councils and other professional organizations.

 

We thank you all for your support and engagement and look forward to another year of progress and business successes.  

 

If your company is interested in joining AUCC, please contact our office at 202-509-3744 or [email protected].  We invite you to be part of our organization and participate in our activities and events.   

 

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In This Issue:
AUCC IN BRIEF
Uzbek president to attend CICA summit
NATO: Closer relations with Uzbekistan
Russian company to construct booster compressor stations at Uzbek gas fields
Uzbekistan moves forward to develop a national Health 2020 strategy
Uzbekistan to complete construction of wind power plants by end of 2014
Correction: EU to allocate 168 mln euros to Uzbekistan

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.

en.trend.az  

 

May 17, 2014

 

Uzbek President Islam Karimov will visit China on May 20 - 21 to participate in the fourth summit of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA), the Uzbek national news agency (UzA) reported on May 17.

The president of 40 world countries and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon are expected to attend the summit.

As part of the summit, President Karimov will meet with Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao.

Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) is a multi-national forum for enhancing cooperation towards promoting peace, security and stability in Asia. It is a forum based on the recognition that there is close link between peace, security and stability in Asia and in the rest of the world. The Member States, while affirming their commitment to the UN Charter, believe that peace and security in Asia can be achieved through dialogue and cooperation leading to a common indivisible area of security in Asia where all states co-exist peacefully and their peoples live in peace, freedom and prosperity.

nato.int  

 

May 16, 2014

 

On 16 May, the NATO Secretary General's Special Representative for the Caucasus and Central Asia, Mr James Apparthurai paid a visit to Uzbekistan and met Foreign Minister Abdulaziz Kamilov and Defence Minister Kabul Berdiev. The meetings focused on NATO's partnership with Uzbekistan, which includes areas of cooperation such as defence education and the Science for Peace and Security programme. They also discussed the situation in Afghanistan, NATO's commitment to the Central Asian region and ways to deepen the mutually beneficial cooperation.

A NATO Liaison Officer for Central Asia

Building on a solid relationship that dates back to 1992, NATO has recently reinforced its cooperation with Uzbekistan by basing a NATO Liaison Officer for Central Asia in Tashkent. The NATO Liaison Officer is responsible for facilitating NATO's engagement with all of the countries in Central Asia:  Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. The officer has been appointed since March 2013 and the office was officially opened during the visit of the NATO Secretary General's Special Representative. There was a joint ribbon-cutting ceremony with a representative of the Foreign Ministry of Uzbekistan and a reception co-hosted by the Italian Embassy, which serves as the NATO Contact Point Embassy in Uzbekistan. 

During his visit, Mr Appathurai also addressed students of the Academy of State Governance under the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan on "NATO, Central Asia, and Afghanistan", with a focus on the post-2014 security environment. He stressed the importance of cooperation - both practical and political - as key to addressing the threats of violent extremism, criminality, weapons- and narco-trafficking, and terrorism.

The first NATO Depository Library

He also used the occasion to open the first NATO Depository Library in Uzbekistan at the University of World Economy and Diplomacy (UWED) in Tashkent.  While at UWED, he fielded questions from students and faculty about regional security and NATO's relationship with Uzbekistan and the wider Central Asian region.  The Depository Library makes a wide variety of materials and resources in the form of books and periodicals on security issues available to students.   

en.trend.az  

 

May 17, 2014

 

Kazan Motor production association will implement construction of two booster compressor stations in the Alan and Shurtan fields in the Kashkadarya province in the south of Uzbekistan, according to the KMPO's regional representative in Central Asia, Alexander Saveliev.  The total cost of construction will amount to $254 million.  "The manufacturing of equipment has already started, and the implementation of the contracts on the BCS "turnkey" construction will be carried out by the end of the year," he told journalists at the International "Oil and Gas Uzbekistan - OGU exhibition. As stated previously, the "Uzbekneftgas" National Holding Company carries out projects on the additional development of the two fields - Alan gas and Shurtan gas condensate fields.  The total cost of the projects is $559.7 million, including the cost of the additional development project of the Shurtan field - $309.5 million, according to the up-to date information.  It is planned to drill 18 operational wells, overhaul of 16 wells, expansion of the existing system of collection and transportation of natural gas with the construction of BCS with the capacity of nine billion cubic meters of natural gas per year within the framework of the project. The project of additional development of Alan field worth $250.2 million, envisages the development of 27 operational wells and construction of BCS with the capacity of five billion cubic meters of gas per year.  The project's funding is carried out at the own expense of "Uzbekneftegaz" in the amount of $250.9 million, a loan from the Fund for Reconstruction and Development of Uzbekistan - $106.9 million, loans from local and foreign banks - 202.2 million.  Both fields were commissioned in the second half of 1970's. Fields' reserves are not disclosed.  At present, Uzbekneftegaz actively implements increasing of hydrocarbons production at a number of fields. Earlier it was reported that Uzbekneftegaz completed a project for further development of the Samantepe and South Urt-Bulak fields with the construction of a booster compressor station and "South Urt-Bulak - Mubarek Gas Processing Plant" pipeline at the cost of $310 mission in 2013.  It is scheduled to implement projects for further development of oil and gas fields at total cost of $2.35 billion in Uzbekistan by the end of 2020.  Uzbekneftegaz is the monopoly operator of the oil and gas sector of Uzbekistan. The company was established in 1998 and comprises six joint stock companies.  Uzbekistan holds third place among the CIS countries for the production of natural gas and is among the ten largest gas-producing countries in the world. Every year, the country produces more than 60 billion cubic meters of natural gas, about 25 percent of which is exported.

euro.who.int  

 

May 20, 2014

 

Uzbekistan is the latest country in the WHO European Region to embark on the process of developing a national Health 2020 strategy. With the support of the Deputy Prime Minister of Uzbekistan, Dr Rustam Sadikovich Ikramov, and the country's Minister of Health, Dr Anvar Valiyevich Alimov, a national intersectoral meeting was held on the 14 May 2014 in Tashkent. The aim of this meeting was to strengthen whole-of-government actions towards health and well-being, under the implementation of the WHO European Health 2020 strategy.

Promoting intersectoral action for health

Participants from the Ministry of Health, other government sectors, nongovernmental organizations and international organizations attended the event.  There was a lively and constructive debate about how a national Health 2020 strategy could add value in Uzbekistan.  Despite the country's great progress towards universal health coverage, there was agreement that Uzbekistan's health challenges cannot be solved by the health care sector alone. Actions in all government sectors, and in all of society, shape the health and well-being of the population. Participants agreed that an overarching national whole-of-government strategy for health is required to improve the health of the people. It was also clear that many of the building blocks of a Health 2020 strategy for Uzbekistan already exist.  These mainly include the recent developments of a national noncommunicable diseases action plan, and maternal and child health strategy.  In this context, Uzbekistan's Health 2020 strategy will act as a framework with the objective to unite and reinforce the existing health strategies and plans, as well as reach beyond the health care sector.

WHO/Europe will support Uzbekistan as it develops its new national strategy. The WHO Regional Director for Europe, Zsuzsanna Jakab, will visit the country in the upcoming months to follow its progress. As further evidence of the commitment to the Health 2020 process, Uzbekistan has also expressed interest in hosting a sub-regional launch of the policy framework Health 2020 and its associated studies at the end of October 2014. This event will give the country an opportunity to share its ongoing progress in implementing Health 2020 with an international audience.

en.trend.az  

 

May 16, 2014

 

"Uzbekenergo" State Joint Stock Company will complete construction of wind power plants in the Bostanliq district of the Tashkent region with the capacity of 750 kilowatts by the end of the year, according to the materials distributed at the international specialized exhibition "The Energy - Power Uzbekistan 2014 " opened in Tashkent on May 14.

The general contractor of the construction will be Chinese Xian electric engineering, which in 2011, won the tender for the "turnkey" construction of wind power worth $1.8 million. The supplier of the equipment is the Xinjiang Gold Wind Science Technology Co. Ltd.

The installed capacity of wind power is 750 kW, height - 65 meters, the span of the blades - 50 meters, the diameter of the base of the tower 3.6 meters, total weight - 112 tonnes.

A wind power plant with such parameters is a first for Uzbekistan and Central Asia.

Additional annual electricity production at this facility will be approximately 2.3 million kilowatt-hours, which will save 700,000 cubic meters of natural gas per year, according to "Uzbekenergo".

As reported previously, by preserving current rate of consumption and resources, the reserves of natural gas and coal is only enough for the next 20-30 years in Uzbekistan, while oil reserves are almost depleted.

Today oil and gas account for 97 percent of the structure of primary energy resources of the country, 2.3 percent - coal, 0.7 per cent - hydropower. At the same time, the potential of renewable energy sources in Uzbekistan is about 51 billion tonnes of oil equivalent, technical capacity - 179.8 million tonnes of oil equivalent.

The first wind power plant in Uzbekistan with the capacity of 750 kW was built near theCharvads reservoir (Tashkent region) in 2010.The first wind power plant in Uzbekistan capacity of 750 kW was built in the area of deep lake (Tashkent region) in 2010. The equipment was supplied by Doojin Co. Ltd (South Korea) within the framework of bilateral agreements with "Uzbekenergo". General projector is "Hydroproject" JSC. The total volume of investments in the project amounted to more than $1 million.

"Uzbekenergo" plans to create a wind power park with an estimated value of $250 million. The capacity of the power park will be 100 MW, which will produce 170 million kWh of electricity.

The potential of wind energy in Uzbekistan is estimated at 2.2 million tonnes of oil equivalent, according to the experts` estimates.

The organizers of the ninth international exhibition "The Energy - Power Uzbekistan 2014", held under the theme "Energy, energy saving, alternative energy sources" is the international exhibition company ITE Uzbekistan and its partner companies ITE group.

About 50 companies from Germany, Kazakhstan, China, Korea, Russia, Turkey, Uzbekistan and France will attend the exhibition.

gazeta.uz  

 

May 23, 2014

 

On May 14, 2014, Azernews.com published an article on the EU efforts to allocate 70 million euros to Uzbekistan (click here for a full article). 

According to the Uzbek Embassy in Brussels, the correct amount is $168 mln euros and not $70 mln euros. 

For more information, please contact Mr. Askar Mirsaidov, Trade and Economic Counsellor of the Uzbek Embassy in Brussels: [email protected].


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The American-Uzbekistan
Chamber of Commerce
 
1300 I Street, N.W.,
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phone: 202.509.3744
 
[email protected]

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