Uzbekistan on the Threshold of the Twenty-First Century: Challenges to Stability and Progress

by Islam Karimov

This new study by the President of Uzbekistan focuses on the country's special opportunities and challenges as it faces the 21st century. From the mid-19th century onwards, the people of Uzbekistan were under the yoke of Tsarist Russia, and later under the yoke of the Soviet Communist Empire, which made this land of unique natural and mineral resources a mere raw-material appendix. Fortunately, Uzbekistan has a huge potential for the establishment and successful development of foreign economic relations for an active participation in global economic relations. One of these potentials lies in the specific geostrategic situation of the country, which can be a bridge between the West and East. Other potentials are the valuable and needed mineral resources, the agricultural products and the advance economic, manufacturing and social infrastructure.

196 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1995

About the author

Current president of the Eurasian country Uzbekistan, in office since 1991.

Karimov became the first secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in Uzbekistan. On march of 1991 he became the head of the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic. In August he declared Uzbekistan an independent state.

In the first presidential election of Uzbekistan Karimov won 86% of the vote. Although the election results are disputed by the opposition. Karimov renewed his turn In 1995 and 2001.

Uzbekistand is a current ally of the USA in the war against terror.

Reviews

[Ramón · Rating 2 out of 5]

Really boring and complete bull. However, pretty important in understanding the fount from which all propaganda flows in Uzbekistan's government. An indciator of the kind of regime pictured here: the first section is on security issues.

[Bubba]

A list of boogeymen that come out of Karimov's closet at night (ethnic conflict, radical Islam and general instability), what he's done to overcome these ills in his own country (economic, democratic, legal, political and environmental development, :)) and a whole slew of reasons why you should invest in Uzbekistan ("in our country there are 100 deposits of this extremely rare mineral, and 10,000 of this metal"...etc.).

If you knew nothing about Karimov, and this was your only reference to his life and career, you would think he was a great democrat, charting a Central Asian path to democracy for his country. Maybe he is.

The translation I had was particularly awful. I almost wanted to offer my services to put the thing forward in semi-grammatically correct English.