This is a study on the economic,ploitical, geographic and historic environment of Uzbekistan.

1. UZBEKISTAN
By
Aditya Ramachandran
Ananda Neogi

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Geography
With an area of 447,000 square kilometers (approximately the size of France),
Uzbekistan stretches 1,425 kilometers from west to east and 930 kilometers from
north to south. Bordering Turkmenistan to the southwest, Kazakstan to the north,
and Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan to the south and east, Uzbekistan is not only one of
the larger Central Asian states but also the only Central Asian state to border all of
the other four. Uzbekistan also shares a short border with Afghanistan to the south.
The physical environment of Uzbekistan is diverse, ranging from the flat, desert
topography that comprises almost 80 percent of the country's territory to mountain
peaks in the east reaching about 4,500 meters above sea level. The southeastern
portion of Uzbekistan is characterized by the foothills of the Tian Shan Mountains,
which rise higher in neighboring Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan and form a natural
border between Central Asia and China. The vast Qizilqum (Turkic for "red sand"-
-Russian spelling Kyzyl Kum) Desert, shared with southern Kazakstan, dominates
the northern lowland portion of Uzbekistan. The most fertile part of Uzbekistan,
the Fergana Valley, is an area of about 21,440 square kilometers directly east of
the Qizilqum and surrounded by mountain ranges to the north, south, and east. The
western end of the valley is defined by the course of the Syrdariya, which runs
across the northeastern sector of Uzbekistan from southern Kazakstan into the

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Qizilqum. Although the Fergana Valley receives just 100 to 300 millimeters of
rainfall per year, only small patches of desert remain in the center and along ridges
on the periphery of the valley.
Water resources, which are unevenly distributed, are in short supply in most of
Uzbekistan. The vast plains that occupy two-thirds of Uzbekistan's territory have
little water, and there are few lakes. The two largest rivers feeding Uzbekistan are
the Amu Darya and the Syrdariya, which originate in the mountains of Tajikistan
and Kyrgyzstan, respectively. These rivers form the two main river basins of
Central Asia; they are used primarily for irrigation, and several artificial canals
have been built to expand the supply of arable land in the Fergana Valley and
elsewhere.
Another important feature of Uzbekistan's physical environment is the significant
seismic activity that dominates much of the country. Indeed, much of Uzbekistan's
capital city, Tashkent, was destroyed in a major earthquake in 1966, and other
earthquakes have caused significant damage before and since the Tashkent
disaster. The mountain areas are especially prone to earthquakes.

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DEMOGRAPHY

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Full Name Republic of Uzbekistan
Capital City Tashkent (Toshkent)
Largest City Tashkent
Most Populous Cities Tashkent
Namangan
Samarkand
Andijon
Nukus
Termiz
Navoi
Angren
Bekobod
Denau
Population 28,929,716 (July 2014 est.)
Age structure 0-14 years: 24.9% (male 3,693,838/female
3,514,734)
15-24 years: 20.5% (male 3,008,779/female
2,934,534)
25-54 years: 43% (male 6,178,921/female
6,255,715)
55-64 years: 6.8% (male 926,129/female
1,036,576)

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65 years and over: 4.8% (male 588,881/female
791,609) (2014 est.)
Dependency ratios total dependency ratio: 48.3 %
youth dependency ratio: 42 %
elderly dependency ratio: 6.3 %
potential support ratio: 15.8 (2014 est.)
Median age total: 27.1 years
male: 26.6 years
female: 27.7 years (2014 est.)
Population growth rate 0.93% (2014 est.)
Birth rate 17.02 births/1,000 population (2014 est.)
Death rate 5.29 deaths/1,000 population (2014 est.)
Net migration rate -2.46 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2014 est.)
Urbanization urban population: 36.2% of total population
(2011)
rate of urbanization: 1.27% annual rate of change
(2010-15 est.)
Major cities - population TASHKENT (capital) 2.227 million (2011)
Sex ratio at birth: 1.06 male(s)/female
0-14 years: 1.05 male(s)/female
15-24 years: 1.03 male(s)/female
25-54 years: 0.99 male(s)/female
55-64 years: 0.99 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.75 male(s)/female
total population: 0.99 male(s)/female (2014 est.)
Mother's mean age at first
birth
23.8 (2006 est.)
Infant mortality rate total: 19.84 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 23.54 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 15.93 deaths/1,000 live births (2014 est.)

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Life expectancy at birth total population: 73.29 years
male: 70.25 years
female: 76.52 years (2014 est.)
Total fertility rate 1.8 children born/woman (2014 est.)
Contraceptive prevalence
rate
64.9% (2006)
HIV/AIDS - adult
prevalence rate
0.1% (2012 est.)
HIV/AIDS - people living
with HIV/AIDS
29,700 (2012 est.)
HIV/AIDS - deaths 2,400 (2012 est.)
Drinking water source improved:
urban: 98.5% of population
rural: 80.9% of population
total: 87.3% of population
unimproved:
urban: 1.5% of population
rural: 19.1% of population
total: 12.7% of population (2012 est.)
Sanitation facility access improved:
urban: 100% of population
rural: 100% of population
total: 100% of population
unimproved:
urban: 0% of population
rural: 0% of population
total: 0% of population (2012 est.)
Nationality noun: Uzbekistani
adjective: Uzbekistani
Ethnic groups Uzbek 80%, Russian 5.5%, Tajik 5%, Kazakh
3%, Karakalpak 2.5%, Tatar 1.5%, other 2.5%
(1996 est.)

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Religions Muslim 88% (mostly Sunni), Eastern Orthodox
9%, other 3%
Languages Uzbek (official) 74.3%, Russian 14.2%, Tajik
4.4%, other 7.1%
Literacy definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 99.4%
male: 99.6%
female: 99.2% (2011 est.)
School life expectancy
(primary to tertiary
education)
total: 12 years
male: 12 years
female: 11 years (2011)
Education expenditures NA
Maternal mortality rate 28 deaths/100,000 live births (2010)
Children under the age of 5
years underweight
4.4% (2006)
Health expenditures 5.4% of GDP (2011)
Physicians density 2.54 physicians/1,000 population (2010)
Hospital bed density 4.5 beds/1,000 population (2010)
Obesity - adult prevalence
rate
15.1% (2008)

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POLITICAL ENVIRONMENT
The Republic of Uzbekistan is a presidential constitutional republic, whereby the President of
Uzbekistan is both head of state and head of government. Executive power is exercised by
the government. Legislative power is vested in the two chambers of the Supreme Assembly,
the Senate and the Legislative Chamber. The judicial branch (or judiciary), is composed of
the Supreme Court, Constitutional Court, and Higher Economic Court that exercises judicial
power.
The movement toward economic reform in Uzbekistan has not been matched by movement
toward political reform. The government of Uzbekistan has instead tightened its grip since
independence (September 1, 1991), cracking down increasingly on opposition groups.
Although the names have changed, the institutions of government remain similar to those that
existed before the breakup of the Soviet Union. The government has justified its restraint of
public assembly, opposition parties, and the media by emphasizing the need for stability and
a gradual approach to change during the transitional period, citing the conflict and chaos in
the other former republics (most convincingly, neighboring Tajikistan). This approach has
found credence among a large share of Uzbekistan's population, although such a position may
not be sustainable in the long run.
Despite the trappings of institutional change, the first years of independence saw more
resistance than acceptance of the institutional changes required for democratic reform to take
hold. Whatever initial movement toward democracyexisted in Uzbekistan in the early days of
independence seems to have been overcome by the inertia of the remaining Soviet-style
strong centralized leadership.

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Uzbekistan is a member of the following international organizations:
 United Nations
 World Bank
 Asian Development Bank (ADB)
 European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD)
 International Monetary Fund (IMF)
 Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)
 Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council (EAPC)
 Partnership for Peace (PfP)
 Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE)
 Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC)
 Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO)
 Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO)
 Central Asian Cooperation Organization (CACO)
 Central Asian Union
 Eurasian Economic Community (EAEC) – suspended
 WTO (OBSERVER)

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ECONOMY

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Uzbekistan has one of the world’s most repressive governments. President Islam
Karimov, in power since the late 1980s, has hinted that he may seek re-election in 2015.
Karimov rose through the ranks of the Soviet-era State Planning Committee (Gosplan)
and remains wedded to a command economy, which discourages foreign investment.
Uzbekistan is dry and landlocked; 11 percent of the land is cultivated in irrigated river
valleys. More than 60 percent of the population lives in densely populated rural
communities. Production of cotton and grain has relied on overuse of agrochemicals and
has depleted water supplies. Much of the agricultural land is degraded, and the Aral Sea
and certain rivers are half dry. Uzbekistan is heavily dependent on natural gas, oil, gold,
and uranium exports.
Uzbekistan, with the goal of becoming an industrialized, high middle-income country
by around 2050, is continuing to transition to a more market-oriented economy to ensure
equitable distribution of growth between regions and to maintain infrastructure and social
services. The country’s policy goals and priorities are: to increase the efficiency of
infrastructure, especially of energy, transport, and irrigation; to enhance the
competitiveness of specific industries, such as agro-processing, petrochemicals, and
textiles; to diversify the economy and thereby reduce its reliance on commodity exports;
and to improve access to and the quality and outcomes of education, health and other
social services.
Uzbekistan has the fourth largest gold deposits in the world. Its copper deposits rank
tenth in the world. It’s the seventh largest uranium supplier. It ranks 11th in the world in
natural gas production with an annual output of 60 to 70 billion cubic meters
Uzbekistan is the world's seventh-largest producer and fifth-largest exporter of cotton.
It has shown robust growth, rising by 4% per year between 1998 and 2003 and
accelerating thereafter to 7%–8% per year. As on 2010 Foreign exchange reserves
amounted to 13 billion US$.

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TRADE WITH INDIA

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Commercial Relations
Trade relations between India and Uzbekistan are governed by the Agreement on Trade and
Economic Cooperation signed in May 1993. This Agreement provides for such things as
mutual MFN treatment, promotion of economic, industrial, scientific and technical
cooperation, including in the field of training of personnel, active participation of small and
medium sized enterprises in bilateral economic cooperation, and counter-trade, etc. India and
Uzbekistan also signed an Agreement on Avoidance of Double Taxation in 1993 and for
Bilateral Investment Promotion and Protection in May 1999. The Inter-Governmental
Commission (IGC) has met nine times, and the last Session was held in Tashkent on 4 May
2011.
Bilateral Trade:
Year
Imports from
India
(in U.S.$
million)
Exports to
India
(in U.S.$
million)
Total Trade
Turnover
(in U.S.$ Million)
Percentage Change over
Previous Year
2008 79.9 11.1 91 23.80%
2009 101.6 23.1 124.7 37%
2010 123.8 27.2 151 21.10%
2011 137.6 22.2 159.8 5.83%
2012 163.4 37.82 201.2 16%
up to
10/2013
162.7 27.06 190.03 13.33% (extrapolated)
(Source: Uzbekistan State Committee for Statistics)
India's main exports to Uzbekistan include drugs, other pharmaceutical products, paper, wood
products, machinery, garments & fabrics, tea, plastic items, chemicals, surgical items and
consumer goods. Beans, chemicals and non-ferrous metals constitute the largest item of Indian
imports from Uzbekistan apart from machinery, silver, raw cotton & silk, pulses & services.
According to the State Statistics Committee of Uzbekistan, India occupied the 15th place
among countries that are trading partners of Uzbekistan, covering 0.7% of the total trade
turnover of the Uzbekistan.

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There is considerable interest in Uzbekistan in cooperation with India in the area of Information
Technology. An MoU on the establishment of India-Uzbek IT Centre in Tashkent (involving
Indian assistance of Rs. 30 million) was signed in October 2004 during the visit of Uzbek
Foreign Minister to India. The India-Uzbekistan Centre for Information Technology, named
after Jawaharlal Nehru, was inaugurated by Prime Minister during his visit to Uzbekistan in
April 2006 in the Tashkent University of Information Technology (TUIT). The MoU for
upgradation of the IT Centre was signed during the visit of Vice President in May 2013.

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Reference
1. World Trade Organisation
2. World Bank
3. Embassy of India, Uzbekistan.
4. Uzbekistan state committee for statistics.
5. IMF
6. Central Intelligence Agency (US)
7. Infoplease.com
Report Submitted by
Aditya Ramachandran
Anand Neogi