INFORMATION DIGEST OF PRESS OF UZBEKISTAN # 156

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August 6, 2014

INFORMATION DIGEST OF PRESS OF UZBEKISTAN # 156

August 6, 2014

REGIONS of the uzbekistan: Navoi Region.. 2

A Golden Origin. 2

Four nines. 2

Oasis of High Technologies. 3

A Fountain and a Water Park. 4

A ‘Gallery’ in the Red Sands. 6

BUSINESS CLIMATE.. 7

Banks not to register foreign trade contracts. 7

 

 

 

 

 

 

REGIONS of the uzbekistan: Navoi Region

A Golden Origin

Gold is equally valued throughout the world, but can be produced for different purposes. Jack London described how people in the Klondike lost human shape in chase of the golden calf and even committed crime. The history of the Navoi Region is an alloy of pioneers’ romance with the scientific progress in the development of gold deposits. It is an example of the civil feat of developers of the Kyzyl Kum Desert, who changed the face of the desert and gave rise to mining and construction of industrial cities with advanced infrastructure.

(The area of Navoi Region is 110,800 square kilometers; it is the country’s second largest region. Novoi is the region’s largest city with a population of 128,000.)

Navoi, Zarafshon and Uchquduq are modern high-rise cities, built as if to the ruler. Coniferous and deciduous trees protect the population from the scorching sun. Unlike many other cities of Uzbekistan, where high-rise buildings grow instead of single storey dilapidated houses, these young ones are an exception.

Meanwhile, rural areas have notably changed in recent years. When I was discussing my trip with my colleagues in Tashkent, those who visited Zarafshon twenty years ago persuaded me to travel to the city, where, as they said, the desert is closely adjacent to nine-storey residential buildings, surrounded by sand dunes. The reality was quite different. New rural arrays of Tomdi District have spread just outside the city. They are the modern standard design houses similar to those being currently built in each region. What a change in the center of Nurota district! There is a beautiful square with a large fountain, which brings the locals and tourists together in the evenings. The city is beautified with new broad streets, trees, flowerbeds.

Traveling across the region, I inadvertently noticed the high quality of local roads. I met no consensus when I was trying to figure out the secret. Some explain this by the good job of road services, others point to a favorable geology saying that desert sands provide a good ‘cushion’ for the asphalt cover, and some people explain this by the careful attitude of the locals to what they have. From my point of view, all these factors are equally important in the improvement.

Towns and villages of Navoi Region have their own unique color, created by specifics and schedule of big industrial enterprises, and certainly the peculiar lifestyle of the multinational hardworking and friendly people. People work together, recreate together, and go in for sports, amateur performances.

(Source: «Uzbekistan Today» newspaper)

Four nines

The Navoi Region is the largest industrial center. It is a concentration of chemical enterprises, building materials companies, small consumer goods enterprises. The Navoiazot and Kyzyl Kum Cement dominate the list of domestic flagship enterprises. The region is piloting special zones for the development of high-tech industries with foreign capital. It is a site of the country’s first free industrial economic zone Navoi built in 2008.

Meanwhile, the Navoi Region is primarily associated with the mining and metallurgical industry, the establishment of which went concurrently with the construction of major cities of Navoi, Zarafshon, Uchquduq. The plant today produces some export oriented goods along with the quadruple nine.

The Navoi Mining and Smelting Plant, the domestic industry giant, is a huge complex, which, along with the daily routine, runs the processes targeted at the future. The completion of the construction of the Sugraly mine, mining operations at the Qorakutan mine, and construction of tailing facilities at Hydrometallurgical Plant №4 is expected for December. Besides, six projects on modernization and reconstruction of various objects are underway, including the expansion of the existing manufacture of phosphorous enrichment materials and technical upgrade of sulfide ore processing facilities.

The exploration of the life of all the plant’s workshops might take at least a week. So we have made a short excursion. It was enough to visit the museum of ‘History of Development of the Kyzyl Kum Desert’ in Zarafshon. It is a unique institution of its kind. 2,000 of its exhibits trace the entire history of the Kyzyl Kum development from the Mesozoic period up to the present time.

“Zarafshon is an evidence of the courage of its pioneers: surveyors, geologists, power engineering and assembly specialists, miners, metallurgists, chemists, and many other specialists,” emotionally told the PhD in geology and mineralogy, the veteran of the industry, the Deputy Director of the museum Aleksandr Luzanovskiy. “Industrial units of the Central Mining Administration are the pride of modern Zarafshon. They incorporate a single technological chain from mining to the precious metal production. The impressive Muruntau open pit is depicted in satellite images as a man-made crater about 600 meters depth. The shops of the hydrometallurgical plant №2 produce the highest gold 99.99. Its quality has been proved by numerous awards and certificates of London and Tokyo stock exchanges.

Distinguished by the beauty and diversity of its creations, the jewelry factory has been a landmark in the history of development of the desert. Our phosphorite complex with enterprises and shops on enrichment of the natural ‘fertility stone’, which is used for the production of ammophos and various superphosphates, is a heritage of our people.”

A four hour story of Aleksandr Luzanovskiy has proved that the mines of the plant, as well as mineral deposits to be explored, make up a huge wealth to be used by many generations. It is appropriate to note that today’s youth is the third generation of local miners.

The Navoi Mining and Smelting Plant incorporates numerous businesses related to the primary production. Thus the industry giant addresses the problem of employment of family members of its staff. For instance, the Agama factory manufactures knitwear and overalls.

“Our company is unique in its kind,” says the head of the garment shop Valentina Komarova. “Our team consists of miners’ wives. It turns out that we sew overalls for our husbands.”

As noted by the administration of the Navoi Mining and Smelting Plant, an exhaustive care of the staff of enterprises is justified by their selfless and hard work, which ensures the further development and prosperity of both the plant and the entire country.

(Source: «Uzbekistan Today» newspaper)

Oasis of High Technologies

“We are currently negotiating on the launch of three more companies in the Free Industrial Economic Zone. Together with the Italian Landi Renzo we plan to establish a manufacture of underbonnet equipment to transfer vehicles to compressed natural gas. The other two companies will be invested by China. In collaboration with Suntech and СNСС we plan to launch the production of equipment for renewable energy, and Puyang Sanshun Commerce will launch the manufacture of mobile phones, smartphones, tablets, laptops and TVs.”

(From an interview with Navoi FIEZ Director Ismoil Ermatov)

I visited the Navoi FIEZ for the first time four years ago, when it all was just starting there. The foundation of the first enterprises was laid on the fenced territory of the administrative building and a financial services center. Today, the construction of new production facilities is underway. The construction of the aluminum wire plant started a few weeks ago jointly with Chinese partners. The construction of the manufacture of electronic electricity meters with the Chinese capital is nearing completion. Installation and commissioning works are underway at the electronic gas meters enterprise with the Korean investment.

16 operating companies catch the eye. They manufacture wires, gas bottles, car generators and compressors, polyethylene and propylene pipes, heating boilers, power cables up to 400kW, landline and mobile phones, tablets, set-top boxes, energy-saving LED light bulbs, pharmaceuticals and more. I was surprised to know my cell phone and a modem were manufactured at the Navoi FIEZ. There is a company specializing in storage, packaging and export of vegetables and fruits. This production has already taken a worthy place in the foreign market.

Every enterprise implies dozens of modern high-tech jobs. Forty people work at the joint Singaporean – Chinese Telecom Innovation. They produce telecommunication equipment, including set-top box receivers for digital TV and DSL ZTE modems. The enterprise intends to expand the range of its goods in the near future.

“The area of application of fiber-optic communication lines is expanding day by day. They allow the information exchange ten times faster than DSL-technologies, so there is no doubt they are the thing of the future,” believes the Telecom Innovation Director Firdavs Aliev. “This motivates us to intensify the development of projects on the manufacture of the equipment used for optical fiber communication.”

The Navoi Free Industrial Economic Zone is a unique oasis of investment open to foreign businessmen and their projects.

“There are ten capitals of different countries within a radius of 2,000 kilometers and more than 100 million people who are willing to use modern high-tech products. Our zone offers excellent conditions for their manufacture,” noted the Navoi FIEZ Director Ismoil Ermatov. “Depending on the amount of investment, investors are exempt from land, property and income taxes, compulsory contributions to the Republican Road Fund and Republican School Fund for 7, 10 and 15 years, and small businesses are exempt from single tax payments. Enterprises are provided with customs privileges for the import of equipment and raw materials. If the goods are export-oriented, the enterprises are completely exempt from payments, and if they focus on the domestic market they get a 50% discount, or payment deferment for up to 180 days. There is also a simplified procedure of obtaining and extending of visas, temporary registration for foreign citizens, licenses for their recruitment. Within the economic zone all payments and settlements under agreements and contracts can be made in foreign currency. Supplied goods, works and services by other business entities – residents of Uzbekistan can be paid in freely convertible currency.

It is hard to imagine a desert on the place of Navoi FIEZ and related facilities six years ago. The list of man-made objects in the area included only the airport, and architectural monuments of caravanserai Rabat Malik and Sardoba. Now, the territory with access roads and railway lines has a customs post, all facilities are stably supplied with electricity, gas, drinking and industrial water. There is a modern hotel on the way to the zone, and a complex of structures that might be occupied by caterers, service centers and stores. Another luxury hotel locates two kilometers away from the international airport. A modern high-rise apartment complex has grown up in the neighborhood.

The airport has changed as well. The terminal building has been upgraded. The Korean Air company has funded the construction of the Cargo multimodal logistics center on its territory, which is designed for the processing and distribution of up to 1,000 tons of cargo a day….

The administrative staff of Navoi FIEZ believes this is just the beginning….

(Source: «Uzbekistan Today» newspaper)

A Fountain and a Water Park

Parks and stadiums occupy a special place in the life of Navoi residents, especially urban community. They like recreating there with their families. The scaled reconstruction and strengthening of logistical capacity of recreation areas is an important social policy component of the regional administration. The reconstruction of Alisher Navoi Central Park of Culture and Amusement in Navoi is nearing completion. Now it has the city’s first illuminated musical fountain and new amusement rides. A water park is being built in Zarafshon….

The forthcoming opening of an art gallery is another anticipated event in the cultural life of Navoi. It will be the center of the regional branch of the Academy of Arts of Uzbekistan and the platform for artists to exhibit their art works. The gallery is being built on the territory of the Alisher Navoi Central Park of Culture and Amusement.

Navoi residents revere their history. As noted by Director of the Regional Local History Museum Ramzan Egamov, various organizations and enterprises increasingly address the museologists asking for the assistance in organizing museums of their history. This is how the regional administration, internal affairs and many other organizations established their museums. Almost every museum dedicates a separate section to sporting achievements of its residents. Many sports complexes, stadiums and swimming pools trained champions and winners of prestigious international competitions.

The social development priorities of Navoi region are generally the same as in the whole country, though conditioned by peculiarities of a certain region. Initially, big enterprises used to build and fund nursery and general schools, summer camps, hospitals and other facilities for their employees. Today, the establishment of private enterprises entails the development of public social institutions, many of which are actually established from scratch.

For example, all regions have their diversified medical centers based on the former regional hospitals. In Navoi Region, the function of the regional hospital was performed by the branch of the Republican Research Center for Emergency Medical Aid, so the local authorities had to establish a diversified medical center from scratch. Recently patients have been presented with a polyclinic; therapeutic departments are getting ready for commissioning. It is scheduled to launch surgical departments next year, after all the necessary medical equipment is supplied. Ministry of Health procures the equipment under joint projects with the Japan International Cooperation Agency and KfW Bank.

“The opening of our center should have a favorable impact on the quality of medical care,” said the Chief Doctor of the Regional Diversified Medical Center Bakhtiyor Bazarov. “From now an on the branch of the Emergency Medical Aid Center will deal exclusively with emergency patients, and our center will deal with routine patients. It is currently being equipped with modern medical devices, including a magnetic resonance imaging, X-ray machines, diagnostic and surgical endovisual devices. We are selecting a highly competitive and skilled staff. All this should significantly raise the quality of specialized medical care.”

Much is being done for the development of regional diversified children’s medical center. Last year it was replenished with an additional building for surgical departments to be equipped with up-to-date diagnostic and treatment tools.

Present and future generations should be both healthy and comprehensively advanced. Big funds have been allocated over the recent years for the development of general and secondary specialized vocational education. 12 schools and five vocational colleges have been reconstructed and overhauled this year. As part of streamlining the education system in the region Nurota and Khatirchi economic colleges have been transformed into services colleges since 2014, and Qiziltepa Agroservice College will now train staff for transport sector.

The network of children’s health camps has been expanded this year with the opening of Ishonch Camp in Karmana District by the Federation of Trade Unions of Uzbekistan.

“300 children of employees of different companies have been recreating in camps this summer,” said the camp’s director Zarifa Abdurazzakova. “I hope their rest will imprint in their memory as we are doing our best. There is a computer class, origami and fine arts clubs, sewing, English language. There is a pool, cinema, sports games. We arrange meetings with prominent figures of culture, art and science.”

The list of big projects includes the construction of the campus for the Navoi State Mining Institute. The project meets the best world standards.

“The construction of a new complex of buildings is going in two phases,” said the institute’s Vice-Rector Umid Kostaev. “A modern lecture building and a sports complex is currently under construction. It is planned to build a special building for teaching and laboratory building. We are going to exhibit the samples of the mining equipment there. The campus will provide conditions for nonresident students and foreign experts, whom we invite to lecture and conduct classes with students.”

The issues of improvement of social and living conditions of families as addressed as well. About 316 standard design houses are under construction in the countryside. Enterprises are building housing for their employees too. For instance, the Navoi Mining and Smelting Plant in Zarafshon is building two four-storey apartment houses for promising specialists. Honeymooners are supported by the Youth Public Movement Kamolot as part of its program on housing construction for young families.

(Source: «Uzbekistan Today» newspaper)

A ‘Gallery’ in the Red Sands

There are many interesting things for tourists in Navoi Region. We featured the Jarakuduq stone forest in Mingbuloq District with its remnants of extinct prehistoric animals in the article ‘Sharks in the Forest’ in 23rd issue of June 5, 2014. Today we invite you to ‘travel’ to other places.

The Stone Forest does not lead in the number domestic and foreign tourists due to its remoteness from the popular tourist destinations. The Chashma spring in Nurota District is the object number one for tourist pilgrimage. It ‘conveniently’ fits into the travel itinerary in Samarqand and Bukhoro. As of 2014, it has been visited by more than seven thousand foreigners, and the number of local visitors of this holy place is few times higher.

People come here to see one of the most full-flowing springs of Uzbekistan. Every second it throws out 200 – 400 liters of purest water, which has the same temperature – about 19 Celsius – in winter and summer. The water is collected in the pond. From there the water, the purity of which is proved by the huge amount of marinka, is divided into the ditches ‘Obi Rosta’ (right water) and ‘Obi Chappa’ (left water), each of which branches out for another two ditches. The locals say that it is enough to stably supply potable and process water to the whole district center. That is why everyone, from baby to adult, cares of the purity of the spring and its ditches.

The origin of this holy place with two mosques on its shores is shrouded in legends. The local tour guide Karamatillo Bakhritdinov told the most common one: “Water began to go out of the earth many centuries ago, after a meteorite fell on this place. The stone was considered holy. When researchers tried to take samples for research, the locals hid it from the prying eyes somewhere nearby, but no one knows where.”

Another wonderful natural optical phenomenon of the spring is shrouded in legends too. Everyone can see it, though. In summer mornings, at the sunrise, the spring amazes with an exceptionally bright blinding light, which shimmer in shades of different colors. It is believed that this phenomenon gave name to the Nurota settlement, which means ‘a father of the sunbeam’. A modern and comfortable hotel, stores and catering facilities have been recently built here as part of renovation and improvement of the territory in order to provide favorable conditions for those willing to look at this beautiful phenomenon.

Much has changed after the reconstruction and beautification of the territory of this tourist oasis. The ruins of the ancient fortress of Nur behind the spring are the only intact archaeological site. The adjacent area was cleared of dilapidated buildings, and replaced by a square with illumination and music fountain.

Before leaving Nurota, I would like to mention another place of tourist pilgrimage – the shores of the Aydarkul Lake. There is a beach, a fishing area, boating service, camel and horse rides. It is a pity I did not manage to come here, though hospitably invited by the district’s governor Qobil Tursunov.

The Sarmyshsay tract, located on the southern slope of the Qaratau, 30-40 km away from the regional center, is popular among tourists. This open-air museum is interesting for its petroglyphs. The territory of the Sarmyshsay ‘gallery’ is really huge – 20 square kilometers. It preserves more than 10 thousand petroglyphs. There are burial mounds and sacred places in the neighborhood. Studying rock paintings, the researchers of the Institute of Archaeology came to the conclusion that the territory was populated yet in the Paleolithic era (300-15 thousand years BC), and tribes of hunters and anglers lived there in the Neolithic era (5-6 thousand years BC). The nature is beautiful here: there are different kinds of trees, and the slopes are covered with dense thickets of shrubs. In the spring, according to local residents, the gorge is strikingly amazing with its tulips and poppies on the vast spaces of bright greens.

The closest way to Sarmyshsay petroglyphs lies through the territory of the Sarmysh children’s health camp. Therefore, if the tour is organized in the summer, when the camp is populated by children, its territory of about 1.5 km is crossed by tourists afoot. At any other time of the year this part of the road can by crossed by car.

The Kyzyl Kum Desert is an interesting site for those interested in petroglyphs. Desert trips are rare due to severe climatic conditions, but travel companies are working on the revival of these routes. One of the red deserts of the Earth will be seen in its entire splendor: the color of the local sands is conditioned by the availability of big amounts of iron oxides in their structure.

“A person who has never been in Kyzyl Kum imagines it as a flat plain, dotted with sand dunes,” said Aleksandr Luzanovskiy. “In reality, there are several low mountain ranges on its territory, which are literally covered with petroglyphs. One of them – the Bukantau – is located in the center of the inner Kyzyl Kum. They are the old and wrinkled mountains, withered by the heat and wind. Their height does not exceed 800 meters above sea level. They are the biggest concentration of ancient images.”

The Navoi Region is interesting by its architectural monuments. Their biggest number is concentrated in Karmana District, which is bordered by a regional center. A big part is assigned today to their conservation. The caravanserai Rabat Malik and Sardoba are located not far from the airport and the Navoi Free Industrial Economic Zone. The local well is a unique piece of engineering. Director of the Regional Local History Museum Ramzan Egamov told about it as follows: “This well has no underground water sources, it is supposed to store water collected during precipitation. The well is still alive; however, it has lost its practical purpose. No one drinks its water today.”

The other architectural monuments of Karmana include the Qosim Sheikh complex, Mir Sayyid Bahrom Mausoleum, and a Deggaron Mosque. Built in the 10-11th centuries in the time of Abu Ali Ibn Sino, the mausoleum of Mir Sayyid Bahrom is the smallest in Uzbekistan. The monument is distinguished by brick veneer on its facade. The fragments of its courtyard and veranda were lined with red brick.

Thus, Navoi Region is worth visiting during vacations…

(Source: «Uzbekistan Today» newspaper)

BUSINESS CLIMATE

Banks not to register foreign trade contracts

The Government of Uzbekistan abolished procedure of registration of foreign trade contracts at the authorized banks from 1 September 2014.

On 21 July, the Cabinet of Ministers of Uzbekistan issued a resolution “On additional measures on improving monitoring of foreign trade operations in Uzbekistan”.

According to the resolution, the business entities will register foreign trade contract in electronic form via the Single state interactive services portal with use of electronic digital signature.

The state bodies for currency control and authorized banks will monitor over foreign trade contracts via the special electronic information system of foreign trade operations.

The contracts, which were registered at the authorized banks till 1 September 2014, will be unregistered at the authorized bank and included to the single portal.

Till 1 September 2014, interested ministries and departments were entrusted to improve the single electronic information system of foreign trade operations.

(Source: «UzDaily.com)