Arkeonews reports that Chinese and Uzbek archaeologists have discovered an ancient settlement dating back to the 8th century BC in Uzbekistan, near the Surkhandarya River.
According to the newspaper, a group of Uzbek and Chinese archaeologists made three major discoveries between April and June.
While thefirst discovery relates to a settlement dating back to the 8th century BC, where a square-shaped architectural structure with several rooms, including a kiln and garbage pits, was found, offering insight into the ancient civilization that once flourished there, another major project involved the study of theancient Kushan Empire.
As a result of the joint efforts, twenty-five ancient tombs and six structures of the Kushan Empire were found. The KushanEmpire was a powerful political system that ruled the territory of modern Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. It was founded in the first century AD by the nomadic Yuezhi people.
Archaeologist Wang Meng noted that such findings are crucial for establishing the chronology of the Kushan culture in the region, helping to trace the development of civilization around the Surkhandarya region.
In the third project, the archaeologists focused on theFerghana Valley in eastern Uzbekistan, where they explored and studied 84 ruins between April and May. The research also uncovered precious cave paintings that helped paint a picture of the ancient culture of Uzbekistan’s Namangan region.
These discoveries mark the latest milestones in a longstanding archaeological partnership between Northwestern University and Uzbekistan that began in 2009. Through 2024, more than 70 joint projects have been implemented in Central Asia to study historical exchanges along the ancient Silk Road.
The President of Uzbekistan visited the BYD Uzbekistan Factory in the Jizzakh region and signed the first cars that rolled off the assembly line.
This is the first stage of a $160 million project. The plant currently produces two models of the brand’s cars. Theannual production capacity of the first stage is50 thousand units.
Thesecond stage of the $300 million project is expected to increase production to 200 thousand electric vehicles per year (in 2027-2028), 350 thousand in 2028-2029, and the third stage of the $500 million project will increase productionto500 thousand electric vehicles (starting in 2030).
For reference: In January-May 2024, Uzbekistan produced a total of 162,608 units of cars. Source – UzAUTO.
The joint venture has been provided with modern industrial infrastructure and nearly 2 km of railway tracks have been laid. The plant has modern equipment and robotic systems from China. The production process is automated. A laboratory for high-precision inspection of the geometric dimensions of electric vehicles has been set up.
As the number of electric vehicles increases, the level of localization is expected to gradually increase. First of all, the production of bumpers, glass, lacquered and plastic parts will be launched. In the future, it is planned to produce batteries, electric motors, aluminum parts, tires and seats.
In the future, the plant plans to export electric vehicles to Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, and Azerbaijan.
BYD, CARS, PLANT, UZBEKISTAN
Uzbekistan is discussing a possible decrease in the flow of labor migrants to Russia due to the growing demand for labor within the country. This was stated by Alisher Ruziyev, head of the Department of the Agency for External Labor Migration under the Ministry of Employment and Poverty Reduction.
In recent years, the number of labor migrants from Uzbekistan to Russia has decreased from 4-6 million to one million. According to the press secretary of the President of Uzbekistan, Sherzod Asadov, this negative trend is due to the success of the reforms being implemented in the country.
He noted that Uzbekistan is currently experiencing a construction boom, so workers’ salaries have already approached the level of some facilities in Russia. This leads to a situation where many citizens may not see the point in labor migration to Russia because salaries in the country are becoming more competitive, AN Prime reports.
In addition, it is noted that in recent years, the Agency for External Labor Migration has expanded the geography of employment of Uzbek citizens abroad, which has helped to meet the demand for labor in Europe. This is part of the agency’s strategy to adapt to changing labor market conditions.
According to official data, about two million Uzbek citizens are working outside the country, including about one million in Russia, which is about 20% of the economically active population.
According to the Statistics Agency of Uzbekistan, as of June 15, 2024, the country’s resident population reached almost 37.1 million people.
For comparison, as of April 1, the number of residents of the republic was less than 37 million, indicating a population increase of almost 133 thousand people over the past 2.5 months.
Statistics also show that the number of men in Uzbekistan exceeds the number of women. In particular, there are 18.6 million men in the country, while there are 18.4 million women.
Active Group and Experts Club have conducted a joint study on the attitudes of Ukrainians towards the countries of East Asia and the Middle East. The study was presented at the Interfax-Ukraine news agency in June 2024. The research was presented by Maksym Urakin and Oleksandr Poznyi. The results of the study are as follows:
The results of the survey are as follows:
Completely positive – 7.7
Mostly positive – 32.1 %.
Mostly negative – 17.9
Completely negative – 3.8%.
Difficult to answer – 38.5%.
Positive – Negative – 17.9
Diplomatic relations between Ukraine and the Republic of Uzbekistan were established on August 14, 1992. The Embassy of Uzbekistan in Ukraine has been operating in Kyiv since April 1995.
The joint research by Active Group and Experts Club on the attitudes of Ukrainians towards the countries of East Asia and the Middle East was conducted in April-May 2024. It covers such countries as Turkey, Iran, Israel, Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Georgia, Armenia, India, China, Republic of Korea, DPRK, Japan, Vietnam, Indonesia, Syria, and Iraq. Full information on the research is available on the website of the Club of Experts at
International rating agency S&P Global Ratings has affirmed Uzbekistan’s long-term sovereign credit rating at “BB-” with “stable” outlook, the agency said in a statement.
The short-term credit rating was affirmed at “B”.
According to the agency, at the next stage of reforms implemented in Uzbekistan, the new tariff policy aimed at ensuring energy security and efficiency, and the reduction of budget subsidies deserve special attention.
S&P notes that the “Uzbekistan – 2030” strategy attracts investments in transport, telecommunications, agriculture, tourism and other sectors, reforms the energy sector, privatization and improvement of fiscal policy.
Thanks to investments in electricity and gas production, green energy and mining, as well as reforms aimed at creating a market economy, S&P forecasts Uzbekistan’s GDP growth to average above 5% per year in 2024-2027.
According to S&P estimates, gradual reduction of the budget deficit will be achieved starting from 2024 by increasing the targeting of subsidies and social spending and abolishing some tax exemptions.
The report also notes that the law “On State Debt” sets the upper limit of state debt and there are annual limits on newly attracted foreign debt.
According to the agency’s report, Uzbekistan’s sovereign credit rating may be upgraded and the outlook may be improved if reforms lead to higher-than-expected economic growth in the medium term and have a positive impact on the sector’s fiscal and external indicators.
Factors downgrading the country’s credit rating are the rapid growth of the country’s total external debt, increased fiscal and balance of payments risks due to failure to achieve the expected results of projects financed by external loans.
