(12 Mar 1997) English/Nat
Recently independent, the former Soviet state Uzbekistan is trying to overcome economic problems left over from Moscow's rule.
Now, after six years of independence and compared with other former Soviet Union states, Uzbekistan has a relatively stable economy.
APTV has a special report.
Between the 11th and the 13th century AD the city of Samarkand was the most prosperous in the orient.
First under Persian rule and then under the Ottoman Turks, the region thrived as the main city on the silk road bringing spice and silk from China and Mongolia to the Mediterranean basin and then to the cities of Europe.
As the third most populous state created from the former Soviet Union and the fourth largest in land area, Uzbekistan was one of the poorest states with 60 per cent of its population living in overpopulated rural communities.
Faced with mounting economic problems, the government of Uzbekistan has begun to move on a reform agenda and cooperate with international financial institutions.
Recently it announced an acceleration of privatization and stepped up efforts to attract foreign investors.
Since its independence in August of 1991, Uzbekistan has taken several steps to insure its economic autonomy: firstly by introducing the Som as its new national currency, then by privatising state assets and liberalizing prices.
A stock market is trading twice a week in Tashkent, and several companies are investing in the region including a major Korean auto manufacturer.
SOUNDBITE:
\"There is a process of simultaneous transforming of three parts of the society: restoring the statehood, transforming the totalitarian regime of Soviet time to the open democratic society and the third is the transforming the economy. I think it is a very difficult time but at the same time I should say that Uzbekistan has achieved a lot of accomplishment. First of all it is stable.\"
SUPER CAPTION: Sodik Safaev, Uzbekistan Ambassador to the United States
As the world's third largest cotton exporter, seventh largest producer of gold and a major producer of natural gas, Uzbekistan's economy is largely self sufficient.
And despite economic uncertainty foreign investment in Uzbekistan is under way.
To help diversify its economic and political ties with Russia, Uzbekistan has moved to strengthen relations with other Central Asian states as well as with countries outside the region including the United States.
SOUNDBITE:
\"We also found that the country because of its extraordinary wealth in cotton, natural gas and metal of almost all kinds, is becoming magnet for foreign business investment. I am proud to say from the United States there are a number of a very large companies
which have come here and which have made very productive and mutually profitable investments\"
SUPER CAPTION: Stanley Escudero, U-S Ambassador to Uzbekistan
Uzbekistan is now one of the richest of the former Soviet republics in Central Asia and its capital Tashkent has become a hub for business and trade in the region.
Other former Soviet states must envy both Uzbekistan's natural resources and its political stability.
But the country still has some way to go,
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