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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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Uzbekistan
Index
Chief among Uzbekistan's foreign policy challenges is establishing
relations with the other Central Asian states, which at the beginning of
the 1990s still were simply neighboring administrative units in the same
country. The ties that emerged between Uzbekistan and the other Central
Asian states in the first years of independence are a combination of
competition and cooperation.
Because they have similar economic structures defined by a focus on raw
material extraction and cotton and by the need to divide scarce resources
such as water among them, the inherent competition among them contains the
potential for enormous strife. This condition was emphasized, for example,
in May 1993, when Uzbekistan halted the flow of natural gas to Kyrgyzstan
in response to that country's introduction of a new currency.
The potential for strife is exacerbated by the perception of the other
Central Asian states that Uzbekistan seeks to play a dominant role in the
region. As the only Central Asian state bordering on all the others,
Uzbekistan is well placed geographically to become the dominant power in
the region. And Uzbekistan has done little to contradict the notion that
it has historically based claims on the other Central Asian states: as the
historical center of the Quqon and Bukhoro khanates, for example,
Uzbekistan believes that it can claim parts of Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan,
and Kazakstan. Uzbekistan's large and relatively homogeneous population
provides it a distinct advantage in exerting control over other republics.
Uzbeks also constitute a significant percentage of the populations of the
other Central Asian states. For example, roughly one-fourth of
Tajikistan's population is Uzbek, and large numbers of Uzbeks populate
southern Kyrgyzstan and southern Kazakstan. And Uzbekistan's active role
in aiding the communist government of Imomali Rahmonov to defeat its
opposition in the long-standing civil war in Tajikistan has demonstrated
that it is well prepared to use its own armed forces--which are the best
armed in Central Asia--to promote its own strategic interests (see The
Armed Forces, this ch.). The government of Uzbekistan already has declared
its right to intervene to protect Uzbeks living outside its borders.
At the same time, however, economic and political exigencies have also
required close cooperation between Uzbekistan and the other Central Asian
states. The near collapse of their respective economies and the need to
reduce their economic dependence on Russia have also encouraged ties among
the Central Asian republics, including Uzbekistan. Isolated from Moscow in
some ways and manipulated by Moscow in others, Uzbekistan has found it
especially advantageous to enhance relations with Kazakstan and
Kyrgyzstan. In January 1994, following their formal departure from the
ruble zone in November 1993, Kazakstan and Uzbekistan agreed to create
their own economic zone to allow for free circulation of goods, services,
and capital within the two republics and to coordinate policies on credit
and finance, budgets, taxes, customs duties, and currency until the year
2000. Although many other former republics had made similar statements of
intent, this marked the first firm economic agreement between two former
republics within the CIS.
Since its signing, this agreement has expanded its coverage for the two
charter nations and by the addition of a third signatory, Kyrgyzstan. In
April 1994, the agreement was extended among all three former republics to
abolish all customs controls; and in July 1994, the leaders of the three
states met in Almaty to agree to a program of greater economic integration
in what they have identified as their "Unified Economic Space."
This agreement produced the first steps toward a modicum of institutional
change, such as the creation of a Central Asian Bank and an interstate
council to formalize bilateral ties. It also marked a commitment for
further expansion of direct ties.
Renewed cooperation between Uzbekistan and the other Central Asian
states also has been evidenced in areas such as joint efforts to address
the Aral Sea problem. For some time even before the breakup of the Soviet
Union, conferences and declarations by leaders in Central Asia had called
for more cooperation among the five Central Asian republics to resolve the
problem of the Aral Sea and regional use of water resources. In December
1992, with World Bank (see Glossary) support, President Karimov took the
lead in proposing the creation of a strong, unified interstate
organization to resolve the problems of the Aral Sea. The heads of state
of all of the Central Asian republics have met several times to coordinate
activities, and all members pledged roughly 1 percent of their respective
GDPs toward an Aral Sea fund. Although compliance has varied, this type of
constructive and unified approach to a mutual problem remained theoretical
in the early 1990s.
Data as of March 1996
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