American-Uzbekistan Chamber of Commerce
BUSINESS NEWSLETTER
  
Week in Review:
 
May 23, 2014 - May 30, 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 info@aucconline.com.  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
Uzbekistan-China: To bolster Trust-Built relations
Uzbekistan to create holding in agro-industrial engineering sphere
World Bank on A Decade of Learning: Building a Public Procurement Community of Practice
ADB on climate change and sustainable water management in Central Asia

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.

gov.uz  

 

May 23, 2014

 

[Read full article here

 

As reported earlier, President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov has visited the People's Republic of China to meet with President of the PRC Xi Jinping and take part in the fourth summit of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia.

The President of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov and President of the PRC Xi Jinping held a meeting in the residence of the Chinese leader in the city of Shanghai. During the conversation, the two sides attached a high appraisal to the current state of relations between our two nations and stressed the importance of such meetings in defining the prospects in the further development of cooperation.

The head of our state underscored the favorable dynamics in the promotion of interaction and expressed sincere gratitude to his Chinese colleague for a warm and cordial reception.

In his turn, the leader of the People's Republic of China stated his firm commitment to the consolidation of truly strategic partnership between our two nations. Xi Jinping underlined his willingness to keep maintaining close personal dialogue with Uzbekistan's leader, pushing for even greater achievements in bilateral relations.

The head of Chinese state said he stands for an even closer contact between the two countries in regional and international affairs. Having noted that Uzbekistan is an important nation in the region, Xi Jinping proposed to unite efforts with our country to cement trust among the nations of Asia, promote peace and stability and assist the socio-economic development in the region.

Islam Karimov and Xi Jinping discussed in detail a whole range of issues on the bilateral agenda, including the further consolidation of cooperation in the political, trade-economic, cultural-humanitarian and other spheres.

The two heads of state exchanged their visions on the pressing issues of regional and international nature.

President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov took part and delivered a speech at the fourth summit of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) held in the city of Shanghai.

CICA is an international forum dedicated to the consolidation of cooperation directed at ensuring peace, security and stability in Asia. The Conference currently unites 24 states. Nine countries and four international organizations are observers at CICA.

In his speech, the head of our state noted that there is scarcely any nation, society in the world today that would not express concern at the alarming, unbalanced political and economic developments in the contemporary world, which in its turn cannot but affect the construction of international security. Evaluating the situation currently unfolding in certain regions of the globe, one cannot but recognize the substantial aggravation of destabilizing factors, namely, the threats of use of force and burst of violence. Hardly mitigating have been the threats posed by international terrorism, extremism, drug trafficking, interethnic and interreligious enmity.

Islam Karimov drew the attention of summit participants to an important aspect - the issue of trust. According to Uzbekistan's leader, mutual movement of the conflicting sides toward each other in their aspiration to address the problems arising between them is imperative in the first place for those sides to come to reconciliation. Otherwise, practically all the negotiation processes turn into reciprocal complains and blames addressed to one another, and that this kind of process can last infinitely. This, in its turn, creates so-called frozen conflicts across various regions of the world, the outgrowth and internationalization of which are facilitated to a large extent by external forces pursuing their own far-reaching designs. Nonetheless, however the situation unfolds, the principal reason behind the emergence of a conflict lies in the loss of mutual trust between confronting sides, which ought to be restored and mandatorily cemented. [Please click here to continue].

trend.az  

 

May 24, 2014

 

President of Uzbekistan, Islam Karimov has signed a decree to create a holding company in the agro-industrial engineering sphere (UzAgroPromMashHolding).

Under the decree 'On measures to further improve the management and financial recovery of agricultural engineering enterprises', the company will pursue a unified scientific technical and investment policy in creating new and modernizing the current facilities for production of agricultural machinery.

The company will carry out the abovementioned activities by using modern energy and metal saving technologies, developing and coordinating the scientific technical and production cooperatives among the enterprises owned by the holding company and other enterprises of Uzbekistan.

The initial authorized capital of the holding company will be formed at the expense of state-owned packages of shares and shares transferred to the company at the value determined by an independent appraisal organization, according to the resolution.

The company was allowed to conduct additional issue of shares to purposefully spend the proceeds for the implementation of sectoral investment projects by the country's preserving the stake in the company in the amount of not less than 51 percent, according to the resolution.

Chairman of the holding will be appointed upon a decision of the general meeting of shareholders of the company in consultation with the Uzbek Cabinet of Ministers.

worldbank.org  

 

May 27, 2014

 

[Read full article here]

 

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

 

Ten years ago a community of practice was formed by the World Bank to allow public procurement professionals share experiences and learn from their peers in the Central Asia Region.

Over the last decade this community of practice has grown to include more than 20 countries across Europe and Central Asia.

The 10th Public Procurement Knowledge Exchange Platform is being held in Istanbul, Turkey at the end of May 2014, marking a decade of learning and sharing experience among thousands of public procurement professionals.

 

If you were a public procurement officer working in Central Asia ten years ago, it was unlikely that you had any direct communication linkages with your counterparts in Georgia, Turkey, or any other country in Europe and Central Asia.  Although much of the work being done by procurement officers in many countries was similar in both scope and format, a mechanism that could link these professionals through an informal community of practice simply did not exist.

April 25, 2005, however, was a turning point. This date marked the first day of the inaugural Regional Public Procurement Forum - a regional workshop developed by the World Bank in an effort to draw on expertise on public procurement from around Central Asia and beyond, foster cooperation, and provide a platform to exchange knowledge and experiences relating to public procurement reform.  

By the time this first forum had ended, an action plan had emerged. It called for both the establishment of a regional public procurement group that would meet at an annual forum and the introduction of mechanisms to expand competition and promote regional integration and cooperation in the sphere public procurement.  This first forum planted the seed for what has subsequently sprouted into an annual forum that is instrumental in improving public procurement for practitioners across the Europe and Central Asia (ECA) region.

"The introduction of the Public Procurement Forum in 2005 was an important moment, in terms of support being provided by the World Bank," notes Samia Msadek, Director for Operational Services and Quality in the ECA region of the World Bank, "this forum is fundamental in helping to ensure the sustainability of the work we are doing in coordination with our public procurement partners throughout the region."

In the decade since then the representatives from Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan first met to develop a common platform to learn from one another, this has grown into an annual Platform and has spurred the creation of an influential community of practice - spanning more than 20 countries throughout Europe and Central Asia region and beyond. Hundreds of participants - from Albania to South Korea - have benefited from this annual gathering and thousands more have been trained in a variety of public procurement practices. Furthermore, and perhaps more importantly, all of these beneficiaries now have a vibrant community of practice to draw upon when exploring new developments in public procurement. [Click here to continue reading].

adb.org  

 

May 2014

 

[Read full report here]

 

Description

Field observations in Central Asia indicate that the climate has been warming and the consequences of this trend have already been observed. Disasters related to climate change destroy settlements, agricultural land, and infrastructure. Central Asian countries should therefore develop resilience and adapt to climate change. This report shows the results of the research combining field observations with sophisticated satellite-based data and created models to demonstrate the impacts of climate change on the hydrology of the Aral Sea Basin.

This working paper describes the results of research conducted by a technical assistance in Central Asia funded by ADB. The technical assistance on Water and Adaptation Interventions in Central and West Asia combined field observations with sophisticated satellite-based data and created models to demonstrate the impacts of climate change on the hydrology of the Aral Sea Basin.

 

Adaptation options in Central Asia

Adaptation strategies are very scale-dependent and location-specific. The assessment tools were used to analyze a range of adaptation actions that might be suitable for Central Asia. The options explored can be summarized in three broad categories:

  • expanding the supply of water available in the future;
  • increasing the productivity of water; and
  • reducing future demand for water.

Results indicate that climate change will put additional challenges on decision makers to manage water resources in a beneficial way both to the environment and human life. The results of this technical assistance show that solutions are possible when decision makers will act adequately, resources are available and actions will be taken in common understanding of all countries.

 

Contents

  • Introduction

Assessing Climate Change

  • Impacts of Climate Change
  • Concrete Adaptation Options in Central Asia

References


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