Which countries border uzbekistan

However, non-governmental human rights watchdogs, such as IHF, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, as well as United States Department of State and Council of the European Union define Uzbekistan as "an authoritarian state with limited civil rights" and express profound concern about "wide-scale violation of virtually all basic human rights".

According to the reports, the most widespread violations are torture, arbitrary arrests, and various restrictions of freedoms: of religion, of speech and press, of free association and assembly. The reports maintain that the violations are most often committed against members of religious organizations, independent journalists, human rights activists and political activists, including members of the banned opposition parties.

The civil unrest in Uzbekistan, which resulted in several hundred people being killed, is viewed by many as a landmark event in the history of human rights abuse in Uzbekistan. The government of Uzbekistan is accused of unlawful termination of human life and of denying its citizens freedom of assembly and freedom of expression. The government vehemently rebuffs the accusations, maintaining that it merely conducted an anti-terrorist operation, exercising only necessary force. In addition, some officials claim that "an information war on Uzbekistan has been declared" and the human rights violations in Andijan are invented by the enemies of Uzbekistan as a convenient pretext for intervention into the country's internal affairs.

Uzbekistan also does not allow Tajiks to teach their youth in their native language. There have been cases of destroying Tajiki Persian-language literary works.

Uzbekistan is divided into twelve provinces viloyatlar , singular viloyat , compound noun viloyati e. Names are given below in the Uzbek language, although numerous variations of the transliterations of each name exist. Uzbekistan has the fourth largest gold deposits in the world. The country mines 80 tons of gold annually, seventh in the world. Uzbekistan's copper deposits rank tenth in the world and its uranium deposits twelfth. The country's uranium production ranks seventh globally. The Uzbek national gas company, Uzbekneftgas, ranks 11th in the world in natural gas production with an annual output of 60 to 70 billion cubic meters.

The country has significant untapped reserves of oil and gas: there are deposits of hydrocarbons in Uzbekistan, including 98 condensate and natural gas deposits and 96 gas condensate deposits. Along with many Commonwealth of Independent States or CIS economies, Uzbekistan's economy declined during the first years of transition and then recovered after , as the cumulative effect of policy reforms began to be felt.

Economic production is concentrated in commodities. In , Uzbekistan was the world's seventh-largest producer and fifth-largest exporter of cotton as well as the seventh largest world producer of gold. It is also a regionally significant producer of natural gas, coal, copper, oil, silver and uranium.

Still, at cotton-harvest time, all students and teachers are mobilized and enslaved as unpaid labour to help in the fields. Facing a multitude of economic challenges upon acquiring independence, the government adopted an evolutionary reform strategy, with an emphasis on state control, reduction of imports and self-sufficiency in energy. Since , the state-controlled media have repeatedly proclaimed the success of this "Uzbekistan Economic Model" and suggested that it is a unique example of a smooth transition to the market economy while avoiding shock, pauperism and stagnation.

The gradualist reform strategy has involved postponing significant macroeconomic and structural reforms. The state in the hands of the bureaucracy has remained a dominant influence in the economy. Corruption permeates the society and grows more rampant over time: Uzbekistan's Corruption Perception Index was out of countries, whereas in Uzbekistan was th out of countries. A February report on the country by the International Crisis Group suggests that revenues earned from key exports, especially cotton, gold, corn and increasingly gas, are distributed among a very small circle of the ruling elite, with little or no benefit for the populace at large.

According to the Economist Intelligence Unit, "the government is hostile to allowing the development of an independent private sector, over which it would have no control". Thus, the middle class is marginalised economically and, consequently, politically. The economic policies have repelled foreign investment, which is the lowest per capita in the CIS. For years, the largest barrier to foreign companies entering the Uzbekistan market has been the difficulty of converting currency. However, strict currency controls and the tightening of borders have lessened the effect of this measure.

Stabilisation efforts implemented with guidance from the IMF paid off. Tight economic policies in resulted in a drastic reduction of inflation to 3. The inflation rates moved up to 6. The government of Uzbekistan restricts foreign imports in many ways, including high import duties.

Excise taxes are applied in a highly discriminatory manner to protect locally produced goods. Import substitution is an officially declared policy and the government proudly reports a reduction by a factor of two in the volume of consumer goods imported.

A number of CIS countries are officially exempt from Uzbekistan import duties. It houses a securities exchange, real estate traders, the national investment fund and the national securities depositary. It does not trade all joint-stock companies each month, and therefore market capitalisation varies widely.

Uzbekistan's external position has been strong since Uzbekistan is considered one of the fastest growing economies in the world top 26 in the next decades according to a global bank HSBC survey.

Uzbekistan is Central Asia's most populous country. Its 29,, population comprise nearly half the region's total population. The population of Uzbekistan is very young: Other ethnic groups include Russians 5. There is some controversy about the percentage of the Tajik population. According to recent genetic genealogy testing from a University of Oxford study, the genetic admixture of the Uzbeks clusters somewhere between the Mongols and the Iranian peoples. Uzbekistan has an ethnic Korean population that was forcibly relocated to the region by Stalin from the Soviet Far East in — There are also small groups of Armenians in Uzbekistan, mostly in Tashkent and Samarkand.

The U. There were 94, Jews in Uzbekistan in about 0. Fewer than 5, Jews remained in Uzbekistan in During the Soviet period, Russians and Ukrainians constituted more than half the population of Tashkent. The country counted nearly 1. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, significant emigration of ethnic Russians has taken place, mostly for economic reasons.

Approximately , Crimean Tatars continue to live in Uzbekistan. The number of Greeks in Tashkent has decreased from 35, in to about 12, today.

The majority of Meskhetian Turks left the country after the pogroms in the Fergana valley in June Uzbekistan has a However, a Pew Research Center report stated that Uzbekistan's population is An estimated 93, Jews were once present in the country.

Despite its predominance, the practice of Islam is far from monolithic. Many versions of the faith have been practiced in Uzbekistan. The conflict of Islamic tradition with various agendas of reform or secularization throughout the 20th century has left the outside world with a confused notion of Islamic practices in Central Asia.

The end of Soviet power in Uzbekistan did not bring an upsurge of fundamentalism, as many had predicted, but rather a gradual reacquaintance with the precepts of the faith. However after , there seems to be a rise of support in favor of the Islamists. Although constitutionally maintaining rights to freedom of religion, Uzbekistan maintains a ban on all religious activities not approved by that state, with particularly harsh treatment of Protestant Christians being commonplace.

The Uzbek language is the only official state language, and since is officially written in the Latin alphabet. The Tajik language is widespread in the cities of Bukhara and Samarkand because of their relatively large population of ethnic Tajiks.

Russian is an important language for interethnic communication, especially in the cities, including much day-to-day technical, scientific, governmental and business use. The use of Russian in remote rural areas has always been limited, and today school children have no proficiency in Russian even in urban centres. However, it was reported in that over half of the population could speak Russian, and a renewed close political relationship between Russia and Uzbekistan has meant that official discouragement of Russian has dropped off sharply.

In , the Latin alphabet was introduced and went through several revisions in throughout the s. Finally, in , Cyrillic alphabet was abruptly introduced by Soviet authorities and was used until the fall of Soviet Union. In , Uzbekistan shifted back to the Latin script, which was modified in and is being taught in schools since Nevertheless, many signs and notices including official government boards in the streets are still written in Uzbek Cyrillic script [ citation needed ].

According to the official source report, as of March 10, , the number of cellular phone users in Uzbekistan reached 7 million, up from 3. MCT Corp. Tashkent, the nation's capital and largest city, has a three-line rapid transit system built in , and expanded in after ten years' independence from the Soviet Union.

Uzbekistan is currently the only country in Central Asia with a subway system, which is promoted as one of the cleanest systems in the former Soviet Union. The stations are exceedingly ornate. For example, the station Metro Kosmonavtov built in is decorated using a space travel theme to recognise the achievements of mankind in space exploration and to commemorate the role of Vladimir Dzhanibekov, the Soviet cosmonaut of Uzbek origin.

A statue of Vladimir Dzhanibekov stands near one of the station's entrances. There are government-operated trams and buses running across the city. There are also many taxis, both registered and unregistered.

Uzbekistan has car-producing plants which produce modern cars. The car production is supported by the government and the Korean auto company Daewoo. The government also bought a stake in Turkey's Koc in SamKochAvto, a producer of small buses and lorries. Afterwards, it signed an agreement with Isuzu Motors of Japan to produce Isuzu buses and lorries. Train links connect many towns within Uzbekistan, as well as neighboring former republics of the Soviet Union.

Moreover, after independence two fast-running train systems were established. Uzbekistan has launched first high-speed railway in Central Asia in September between Tashkent and Samarqand. The new high-speed electric train Talgo , called Afrosiyob , was manufactured by Patentes Talgo S. Spain and carried out its first trip from Tashkent to Samarkand on August 26, The plant originated during World War II, when production facilities were evacuated south and east to avoid capture by advancing Nazi forces.

Until the late s, the plant was one of the leading airplane production centers in the USSR, but with dissolution of the Soviet Union its manufacturing equipment became outdated, and most of the workers were laid off. Now it produces only a few planes a year, but with interest from Russian companies growing in it, there are rumours of production-enhancement plans. With close to 65, servicemen, Uzbekistan possesses the largest armed forces in Central Asia. The military structure is largely inherited from the Turkestan Military District of the Soviet Army, although it is going through a reform to be based mainly on motorized infantry with some light and special forces [ citation needed ].

The Uzbek Armed Forces' equipment is not modern, and training, while improving, is neither uniform nor adequate for its new mission of territorial security [ citation needed ]. The government has accepted the arms control obligations of the former Soviet Union, acceded to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty as a non-nuclear state , and supported an active program by the U.

The Government of Uzbekistan spends about 3. Following the September 11, terrorist attacks in the U. Central Command's request for access to an air base, the Karshi-Khanabad airfield, in southern Uzbekistan.

However, Uzbekistan demanded that the U. Economic disenfranchisement caused by the barrier made people take up desperate measures like removing entire sections of the barrier. The erection of the barrier is responsible for social ills such as tearing families apart who now live on opposite sides of the barrier.

Uzbekistan is bound to the southeast by Afghanistan. The two countries have a mutual land border whose length of The border runs from the Tajikistan-Uzbekistan-Afghanistan tripoint to the tripoint connecting the two countries to Turkmenistan. The border is defined by the course of the Amu Darya River. The border was first demarcated while Uzbekistan was part of the Soviet Union, with the country retaining the outline of the border after gaining independence.

The border separating the two countries is arguably the most-secured in the world, a reputation it shares only with the North Korea-South Korea border. The barrier consists of a barbed-wire fence and another electrified barbed-wire fence. Besides, the border is laden with landmines and is intensively patrolled by security forces from Uzbekistan.

The bridge was built during the Soviet Era in the late 20th Century. The Friendship Bridge had been closed between and due to the rise of the Taliban in Afghanistan but was reopened to allow the ferrying of humanitarian aid to Afghanis after the fall of the Taliban. The bridge is heavily patrolled on both sides by security forces drawn from the two bordering nations. A map showing Uzbekistan's location in relevance to its bordering countries.

Olympic Games History. Southeast Asian Countries. Nevertheless, Kazakh Agriculture Minister Yerbol Karashukeev said on September 21 that Kazakhstan would continue exporting wheat and flour to Afghanistan. Uzbekistan receives transit fees for such shipments into Afghanistan from China, Kazakhstan, and other places.

Turkmenistan has two railways connecting it to towns not far from the border in Afghanistan. But this route is new, having just opened in The Turkmen section is underdeveloped and unlikely to be developed further in the near future. Tajikistan has only roads to Afghanistan through the mountains. And the traffic of goods through Uzbekistan could soon become even more active.

Uzbekistan signed a deal with Pakistan in February to construct a kilometer railway extension that would run from Mazar-e Sharif to Kabul and on to Peshawar. He arrived early to meet with Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoev and discuss construction of the railway connecting their two countries via Afghanistan.

That complex covers about 40 square hectares. Operations at the sprawling center have reportedly slowed to a crawl since the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan. The Uzbek government has offered use of the cargo center to countries and organizations wishing to send humanitarian aid to Afghanistan. That should at least keep operations running until the resumption of normal trade across the border. Since , when the previous Taliban regime was ousted from power, electricity has been exported to Afghanistan from Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.

An ADB report said Afghanistan imports 73 percent of its electricity. Of that, Uzbekistan supplies 57 percent, Iran 22 percent, Turkmenistan 17 percent, and Tajikistan 4 percent. Some of that cost was covered by loans from the Islamic Development Bank.

Uzbek electricity is now essential to Afghanistan. In , construction began on a kilometer section of a kV power line from Surkhon in Uzbekistan to Pul-e Khumri, north of Kabul.

When finished, the power line from Surkhon to Pul-e-Khumri would boost Uzbek electricity exports to Afghanistan by about 70 percent. It is not clear how close the project is to being completed.