Kursiv Uzbekistan (Eng)

🌍 Uzbekistan’s economic transformation and the growing role of its insurance sector were presented at the Rendez-Vous de Septembre (RVS) 2026 in Monte Carlo, which brought together around 4,000 insurance and reinsurance executives from around the world.

📈 Uzbekinvest highlighted the country’s investment potential, financial and insurance market reforms, economic growth, rising foreign investment and improving macroeconomic stability under President Shavkat Mirziyoyev’s reform agenda.

🤖 The presentation also focused on the digital transformation of insurance, including the growing use of advanced technologies and artificial intelligence in underwriting, risk assessment and other business processes.

🤝 On the sidelines of the event, Uzbekinvest held meetings with international insurance companies, resulting in new agreements to expand cooperation on investment insurance, foreign trade and Uzbekistan’s export potential. The programme also featured Uzbekinvest Director General Rustam Azimov’s new monograph, “Artificial Intelligence in Insurance,” published in Paris in August 2026.

📚 Uzbekistan’s Senate has approved amendments introducing a revised Latin-based Uzbek alphabet, replacing several letter combinations with individual characters.

🔤 The new version will have 28 letters and one apostrophe, with O‘, G‘, Sh and Ch replaced by Ö, Ğ, Ş and Ç.

💻 The reform is intended to make Uzbek text easier to type and process in digital systems, including search engines, databases and artificial intelligence tools.

🏫 School textbooks are expected to transition to the revised alphabet between 2027 and 2031, with first-grade materials switching earlier.

⚠️ Senator Husan Ermatov warned that Uzbekistan has not yet completed its transition from Cyrillic to the current Latin script and said another change could leave the country using what he called “three alphabets”.

⌨️ A proposed keyboard layout would give dedicated keys to the new letters, while the Savodxon project has already developed a Windows keyboard for typing them on standard QWERTY keyboards.

👤 Saida Mirziyoyeva, head of the Administration of the President of Uzbekistan, has been appointed manager of the Tashkent International Financial Centre (TIFC) alongside her current role.

📋 She will serve as secretary-general of the centre’s council, organise its agenda, chair meetings when the chairman is absent and coordinate work between state institutions and the TIFC.

🌍 Mirziyoyeva will also represent the centre before international organisations, investors and partners, while helping select senior officials including the Financial Services Authority leadership and TIFC executive director.

⚖️ The TIFC was established in March 2026 and is expected to begin operations in early 2027 under a special legal regime based on English common law and principles of equity.

💼 A dedicated Tashkent International Commercial Court will handle commercial disputes, while English will be the centre’s official language.

💰 The TIFC will initially receive $20 million from Uzbekistan’s Fund for Reconstruction and Development, with further funding expected from the state budget, participants and service fees.

🏦 Starting September 15, Uzbekistan’s Central Bank will include direct transactions between banks when calculating the country’s official exchange rate.

📊 The new methodology will combine exchange-based deals with direct interbank transactions using a weighted average, giving the benchmark a broader view of currency trading.

💵 The official exchange rate is used for accounting, reporting foreign-currency transactions and calculating customs and other mandatory payments.

📅 The change also clarifies how rates apply on weekends and public holidays. Rates published after the latest working day will remain in effect until the next working day.

🔎 By including direct interbank deals, the Central Bank expects the benchmark to better reflect prices at which banks actually trade currencies.

⚠️ The bank has not estimated how much the new methodology could change the published rate and has provided no indication of whether it will make the sum stronger or weaker.

🇺🇿 Serbia is ready to cooperate with Uzbekistan on ballistic missile production, President Aleksandar Vucic said during the Serbia-Uzbekistan business forum in Belgrade.

🚀 Vucic said Serbia already produces shorter-range ballistic missiles and plans to begin manufacturing longer-range systems within a year, but Belgrade has not disclosed the planned missile’s range or specifications.

🛡 Serbia’s defence industry includes companies and institutions such as Yugoimport-SDPR, the Military Technical Institute, EDePro and Krušik. Its best-known domestic system is the Šumadija multiple-launch rocket system, which includes the 400mm Jerina-1 tactical ballistic missile.

🎯 EDePro says the solid-fuel Jerina-1 can strike targets up to 280 kilometres away and carry a 200kg warhead. Under international classifications, that places it in the short-range category, meaning Vucic’s planned “long-range” missile cannot yet be assessed without further specifications.

🇨🇳 Serbia also operates foreign-made long-range weapons. It became the first European operator of China’s CM-400AKG air-launched ballistic missile, with a reported range of up to 400 kilometres.

🤝 Despite Vucic’s announcement, defence cooperation was not included in the Serbian government’s published list of 20 bilateral documents exchanged during President Shavkat Mirziyoyev’s September 7-8 visit.

📦 Serbia has previously participated in international missile development, including the ALAS guided missile programme with the UAE. However, there is no confirmed public record of Serbia exporting its Jerina-1 or a domestically produced long-range ballistic missile.

🏮 A large red structure resembling a Japanese torii gate, Chinese-style lanterns and Korean-inspired architecture have drawn criticism at Seoul Mun, a Korea-themed complex in Tashkent.

🇰🇷 Korean heritage expert Seo Kyoung-duk, a professor at Sungshin Women’s University, said the gate could misrepresent Korean culture and urged its replacement.

⛩ Torii gates traditionally mark entrances to Shinto shrines in Japan, while Seoul Mun was designed around Korean architectural elements including palace gates, tiled roofs and taegeuk motifs.

📸 Seo also warned that visitors may mistake the torii-like structure for a Korean cultural symbol, particularly as the landmark has become popular with tourists and Tashkent residents.

🍜 However, Seoul Mun is not exclusively dedicated to Korean culture. The complex brings together various Asian-style restaurants, shops and cultural elements, meaning the installation may reflect a lack of cultural awareness rather than an intentional attempt to misrepresent Korean heritage.

🤝 The controversy comes as Seoul Mun has become a symbol of growing cultural and people-to-people ties between Uzbekistan and South Korea.

🤝 Serbia could become the first European country to sign a free-trade agreement with Uzbekistan as President Shavkat Mirziyoyev visits Belgrade to establish a strategic partnership and expand economic cooperation.

🚆 The two-day visit is Mirziyoyev’s first official trip to Serbia and follows President Aleksandar Vucic’s visit to Uzbekistan in October 2025, when the countries signed 12 bilateral cooperation documents.

📦 The first intergovernmental commission on economic cooperation met in Belgrade on September 7 and agreed to create a working group to begin preliminary discussions on a potential free-trade agreement.

🏭 The countries have also prepared an industrial partnership roadmap for 2026–2028 covering pharmaceuticals, textiles, seed production, horticulture and dairy processing.

💻 Cooperation is also planned in critical minerals, digital geology, artificial intelligence, 5G connectivity and export-oriented IT projects.

🚄 Three transport-related documents were prepared for signing during Mirziyoyev’s visit, while the wider agenda includes labour migration, social protection and partnerships between Uzbek and Serbian cities and regions.

📊 Trade between the two countries remains relatively small. An Uzbek government-backed review put 2025 turnover at around $12 million, while Serbia’s Foreign Ministry reported €37.7 million, with the two sides apparently using different calculation methods.

🌍 Uzbekistan climbed 10 places to 37th in the 2026 Global Peace Index, becoming the highest-ranked country in Central Asia and placing above the UK and Sweden.

📊 Uzbekistan scored 1.726, with a lower score indicating greater peacefulness. Kazakhstan followed in 44th place, while Tajikistan ranked 47th and Kyrgyzstan 61st.

🏆 Uzbekistan was also the second-highest ranked country in the broader Eastern Europe and Central Asia region, behind Bulgaria.

📈 The country’s strongest result came in the Ongoing Domestic and International Conflict category, where it scored 1.411 and was among the countries showing the most progress. Its Militarisation score was 1.737, while Societal Safety and Security was its weakest area at 1.995.

🌐 The global picture was less positive, with peacefulness deteriorating by 0.7% for a 12th consecutive year. Some 99 of the 163 countries assessed recorded a decline.

📉 Elsewhere in the region, Turkmenistan ranked 66th, Georgia 94th, Azerbaijan 110th and Belarus 115th. Ukraine ranked 160th, while Russia remained last globally at 163rd.

📚 The 20th edition of the index assesses 163 countries and territories representing 99.7% of the world’s population. It uses 23 indicators covering conflict, militarisation and societal safety and security.

🤝 Uzbekistan has appointed Ayubkhon Yunusov as its ambassador to Syria, with the diplomat presenting copies of his credentials to Syrian Foreign Minister Assad al-Shaibani.

🏛 Based in Kuwait City, Yunusov held talks with senior Syrian officials in Damascus on strengthening bilateral ties and expanding cooperation between Tashkent and the Syrian administration.

📈 The sides discussed boosting political dialogue and trade and economic exchanges, as well as identifying priority areas for renewed long-term cooperation.

💼 One key proposal was to establish an Uzbek-Syrian Intergovernmental Committee focused on trade and economic cooperation.

🗣 The two sides also explored creating a regular political consultation mechanism between their foreign ministries to improve diplomatic coordination.

🤝 Al-Shaibani highlighted Syria’s appreciation for Uzbekistan’s past support and said Damascus was ready to consider initiatives put forward by Tashkent.

🌐 The talks also focused on regular high-level contacts, mutual state visits and expanding cooperation across areas of shared interest.

🗳 Germany’s far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) won roughly 44% of the vote in Saxony-Anhalt’s September 6 election, marking a major breakthrough for the party even though it fell short of a parliamentary majority.

🇺🇿 The result could matter for Central Asians, particularly those looking to work or study in Germany. AfD regional leader Ulrich Siegmund has previously visited Uzbekistan as part of a delegation focused on labour mobility and academic cooperation.

🚫 Siegmund has since argued that Germany should address its labour shortages without relying on foreign workers, while the AfD’s state programme supports only selected skilled immigration and rejects workers it describes as “culturally alien”.

👷 Foreign employees covered by social insurance in Saxony-Anhalt increased from 20,260 to 75,300 between 2015 and 2025, even as the German workforce has been shrinking due to retirements.

🌍 Uzbekistan could be particularly affected as around 1.4 million Uzbeks work abroad, including about 258,000 in European countries. An increasingly restrictive German migration policy could narrow one of the alternatives to traditional labour destinations such as Russia.

🎓 Education could also be affected. More than 500,000 people across Central Asia were learning German as of February, while Germany and the region have been expanding higher-education cooperation.

🏛 The AfD also wants development aid to be linked to countries’ cooperation with deportations and returns, potentially complicating Germany’s broader cooperation with Central Asian states.

🤝 The election does not automatically cancel existing work or study permits, but a stronger AfD presence could influence migration policy and the political environment in which Central Asian workers, students and governments operate.

📊 Uzbekistan accounted for 76% of the 58 venture deals tracked across the CIS, excluding Russia, in the first half of 2026, according to a new Venture Eurasia report by DSIGHT, B1, T-Bank and KAMA FLOW.

💸 The country’s strong performance reflects the number of deals rather than its share of total capital invested, with most early-stage cheques ranging from $10,000 to $300,000 apart from major transactions such as Uzum’s funding round.

🏦 Several Uzbek funds drove the activity, including Yoshlar Ventures with 13 deals, Aloqa Ventures with 11, IT Park Ventures with 10, Imkon Ventures with seven and United Ventures with three.

💰 Uzbekistan also added $30 million in fund capital during the first half of the year. Yoshlar Ventures raised $10 million to reach $20 million in total capital, while IT Park Ventures added $20 million to reach $30 million.

🌱 Hayot Ventures also entered the market as a new pre-seed investor, further expanding funding opportunities for early-stage startups.

📉 Despite its dominance in new venture deals, Uzbekistan recorded none of the three M&A and exit events identified in the regional sample. All three took place in Kazakhstan, highlighting the gap between attracting startup investments and creating opportunities for investors to exit.

🔎 IT Park Ventures said its expanded $30 million fund will focus on seed and Series A companies, signalling a growing push to support startups beyond the earliest stages.

🧳 Kyrgyzstan is introducing mandatory medical or accident insurance for foreign visitors booking tours through local operators, with the measure applying to tour companies rather than travellers directly.

📅 A government decree adopted on August 28 is due to take effect 10 days after official publication. The change does not create a new visa or border-entry requirement, and independent travellers have not been told they must show insurance when entering the country.

💵 Government proposals set minimum coverage at 3 million soms (about $34,300) for conventional tourism and 5 million soms (about $57,200) for extreme or adventure tourism.

🏔 Travellers taking part in activities such as mountaineering, rafting, diving, caving, quad biking, skiing or snowboarding should check that these activities are explicitly covered by their policy.

🚁 Adventure policies were also expected to include search-and-rescue coverage, with the draft rules proposing up to three days of coverage for such operations.

💳 The government’s impact assessment estimated insurance premiums at 400–500 soms ($4.60–$5.70) per day, with standard five- to seven-day policies costing around 3,000 soms ($34).

⚠️ Tourists booking climbing, skiing or expedition packages are advised to get written confirmation that their activities, search-and-rescue and helicopter evacuation are covered.

💰 Kazakhstan offers the shortest route to an iPhone 17 Pro, with workers needing an estimated 55 working days to afford the 256GB model based on average net pay and local prices.

🇺🇿 In Uzbekistan, the same phone would require around 65 working days, while workers in Kyrgyzstan need 67 days and those in Tajikistan around 74 days.

🇹🇲 Turkmenistan stands out sharply, with the local price of the iPhone 17 Pro reaching about $6,479, meaning an estimated 207 working days are needed to buy it.

📊 The comparison uses average monthly net salaries from Numbeo, divided by 21 working days, and current local retail prices for the 256GB iPhone 17 Pro.

⚠️ The figures are estimates rather than a direct measure of purchasing power, as comparable 2026 median take-home wage data is unavailable across all five Central Asian countries.

🌍 For comparison, a separate global affordability index found that the iPhone 17 Pro requires just three working days of income in Luxembourg and Switzerland, compared with 160 days in India.

🏗 Uzbekistan is considering creating a joint venture with leading foreign engineering companies to strengthen project management, technical control and independent review of the $9.5 billion nuclear power plant under construction in Jizzakh region.

🔍 The proposal was raised during President Shavkat Mirziyoyev’s review of construction progress on September 2, with details on the potential partners, ownership and launch date yet to be announced.

🇷🇺 Rosatom’s engineering unit Atomstroyexport remains the project’s general contractor, while Uzbekistan’s Directorate for Nuclear Power Plant Construction is the client under state nuclear agency Uzatom.

⚛️ The current design includes two 1,000 MW VVER-1000 units and two smaller 55 MW RITM-200N reactors. Uzbekistan is training local operators, engineers and radiation-safety specialists to manage the station after completion.

💰 The plant is currently estimated to cost $9.5 billion, with Uzatom expecting external borrowing to cover 85–90% of the project, or around $8.1–$8.6 billion.
🏦 Potential financing sources include the BRICS New Development Bank, international financial institutions and partner countries. Russia has also offered a preferential export loan, though its value and terms have not been disclosed.
🤝 The nuclear project is part of a broader Uzbek-Russian economic relationship, with the countries’ current and planned bilateral projects reportedly exceeding $50 billion.

🛂 Uzbekistan has introduced a 30-day visa-free regime for Indian citizens who hold qualifying multiple-entry business or tourist visas issued by certain countries.

📅 The measure took effect on September 1 under Presidential Decree PF-180, signed on August 29. Travellers must also have a flight ticket to India or a third country.

🌍 Eligible visas must be valid and issued by Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea, the US, the UK or a Schengen member state.

⚠️ The exemption does not apply to all Indian passport holders. Those without a qualifying visa must continue to follow Uzbekistan’s standard entry requirements.

✈️ The new rules follow talks between President Shavkat Mirziyoyev and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who also noted that 14 flights a week were operating between the two countries.

📊 India accounted for 12,600 of the 2.87 million foreign visitors recorded by Uzbekistan in the first quarter of 2026.

👔 BP has appointed Ian Tyler as its permanent chairman, ending a months-long search for a new leader of the British energy giant’s board.

🏢 Tyler, who has served as interim chairman since May, succeeds Albert Manifold and is expected to provide continuity as BP carries out a strategic reset focused on oil and gas and stronger shareholder returns.

💼 Tyler is a former CEO of infrastructure group Balfour Beatty and has served as a BP non-executive director since 2020.

📉 The appointment comes as BP faces continued investor pressure over its performance and strategy while reshaping the balance between traditional energy production and lower-carbon ambitions.

🔄 BP also said Amanda Blanc, who led the chairman search, will not stand for re-election at the next annual general meeting and is expected to leave the board once her successor is appointed.

🇺🇿 BP is also expanding its upstream activities in Uzbekistan. Earlier this year, the company joined Uzbekneftegaz and Azerbaijan’s SOCAR in an exploration project covering six investment blocks in North Ustyurt.

🛢 BP holds a 40% stake in the project, while Uzbekneftegaz and SOCAR each own 30%. Drilling is expected to begin by the end of 2026.

🛫 Nepal is urging foreign travellers not to cancel trips after catastrophic floods killed more than 1,000 people, saying much of the country remains open to visitors.

💰 Authorities are concerned the disaster could trigger a second crisis by cutting tourism income for hotels, guides, restaurants and mountain communities during the recovery.

📣 The Nepal Tourism Board launched its “Nepal Calling” campaign on September 1, declaring that the country remains open and encouraging travellers to visit areas unaffected by the floods.

🏔 Tourism Minister Khadak Raj Paudel also said mountain trails and trekking routes remain available, but authorities stressed that conditions vary and not all roads or routes are open.

🚨 By September 1, rescue teams had recovered 1,010 bodies, while around 4,000 people remained missing and more than 11,800 had been rescued. Nearly 590 foreign nationals from 39 countries were still unaccounted for.

🧭 Travellers heading to Nepal are advised to check transport, accommodation and trekking conditions immediately before departure and avoid affected or closed areas.

☎️ The Tourism Board recommends using registered travel and trekking agencies. Foreign visitors can contact Nepal’s Tourist Police on 1144 and report police emergencies on 100.

⚖️ The trial of alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and three co-defendants is scheduled to begin on June 5, 2028, nearly 27 years after the September 11, 2001 attacks.

🏛 A military judge at Guantanamo Bay selected the date after rejecting a prosecution proposal for a 2027 trial, citing the need for more time to resolve disputes over evidence and other outstanding issues.

👤 Mohammed, Walid bin Attash, Ali Abdul Aziz Ali and Mustafa al-Hawsawi are accused of helping plan and facilitate the attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people.

✈️ The 19 al-Qaeda hijackers seized four commercial aircraft, crashing two into New York’s World Trade Center, one into the Pentagon and another into a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

🔒 Mohammed was captured in Pakistan in 2003 and transferred to Guantanamo in 2006 after being held at secret CIA detention sites. He was subjected to interrogation methods including waterboarding, which has become a major issue in the prosecution.

🤝 The defendants reached plea agreements with US prosecutors in 2024, but the deal was later challenged by then-Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin. A federal appeals court subsequently overturned the agreements, reopening the possibility of a capital trial.

⏳ More than two decades after the defendants were captured, the case remains unresolved. The scheduled trial will take place after the 25th anniversary of the attacks, with around 15 detainees still held at Guantanamo Bay.

🇰🇿🇺🇿 Kazakhstan Railways will introduce a women-only carriage on the daily overnight Almaty–Tashkent train from October, marking the first time the scheme will operate on an international route.

👩‍✈️ The dedicated coach will be part of the existing train, with tickets available exclusively to women and all attendants in the carriage also being female.

🎟 Passengers will be able to book the carriage at railway ticket offices or online through Kazakhstan Railways, where eligible seats will be marked «ЖН». Sales open 45 days before departure.

🚉 Kazakhstan introduced women-only coaches on domestic routes in 2021, and more than 946,000 passengers have used the service. The Almaty–Tashkent route will become the 14th to offer the option.

🌙 The overnight journey takes almost 18 hours, with the train leaving Almaty at 19:05 and arriving in Tashkent at 12:53 the next day. The return service departs Tashkent at 14:41 and reaches Almaty at 08:51.

🛤 The move comes less than a year after the route was upgraded to a daily Talgo service, increasing capacity to more than 400 passengers per day.

💰 President Shavkat Mirziyoyev launched 163 industrial, service and social facilities across Uzbekistan on August 25 ahead of the country’s 35th Independence Day anniversary.

📊 The projects represent almost 50 trillion soums ($4.25 billion) in investment and construction spending and are expected to create around 15,000 jobs and generate an additional 1 trillion soums ($84.9 million) in annual state revenue.

⚡️ Energy projects account for a major share, with 1,873 MW of new generating capacity commissioned. Syrdarya added 1,573 MW, while Karakalpakstan opened a 200 MW wind farm with 100 MW of energy storage.

🏭 The new facilities also include metallurgical, textile, knitwear and carpet factories designed to increase exports and reduce reliance on imports.

🎓 The social package includes 36 kindergartens, 43 schools, seven higher education institutions and three hospitals. The New Uzbekistan University campus in New Tashkent can accommodate 7,000 students and will host a new AI institute.

📚 A new five-storey National Library in Tashkent covering 30,000 square metres was also unveiled, with more than 200,000 books and 28 study halls for up to 1,500 readers.

🛣 Separately, the government allocated 46 trillion soums ($3.91 billion) from the state budget this year for infrastructure upgrades, including 385 schools, 113 kindergartens, 81 hospitals, 7,500 km of roads and 3,200 km of utility networks