EurasiaNet Business & Economics - Uzbekistan: Tashkent Announces Withdrawal from Moscow-Dominated Economic Group

BUSINESS & ECONOMICS

UZBEKISTAN: TASHKENT ANNOUNCES WITHDRAWAL FROM MOSCOW-DOMINATED ECONOMIC GROUP
11/12/08

Uzbekistan has announced its withdrawal from the Eurasian Economic Community, a grouping of former Soviet states that is dominated by Russia. Although Uzbek officials have not provided an explanation, Tashkent’s motive appears rooted in an impression that the organization is inefficient.

Uzbekistan’s departure comes amid ongoing efforts by the United States and European Union to repair a rift created amid the fallout over the 2005 Andijan events. The Eurasian Economic Community (EEC) was founded in 2000, but Tashkent joined the grouping in 2006. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive].

In comments published by the Regnum news agency, political analyst Modest Kolerov suggested that Uzbekistan had grown disenchanted with the organization’s inability to promote greater regional cooperation on water and energy issues.

Members of the Eurasian Economic Community include Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan Russia and Tajikistan. Three former Soviet states have observer status -- Armenia, Moldova and Ukraine.

Global financial turmoil may have hastened Tashkent’s decision, Kolerov added. "The international financial crisis has already made the leadership of the region’s biggest economies -- Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan -- take a number of measures to protect their financial systems and support domestic markets, whose local strategies make them shield themselves from defaults, social and economic as well as energy crises in the neighboring states," Kolerov said. "The international crises only exacerbated Uzbekistan’s doubts about the EEC."

The Central Eurasia Project aims, through its website, meetings, papers, and grants, to foster a more informed debate about the social, political and economic developments of the Caucasus and Central Asia. It is a program of the Open Society Institute-New York. The Open Society Institute-New York is a private operating and grantmaking foundation that promotes the development of open societies around the world by supporting educational, social, and legal reform, and by encouraging alternative approaches to complex and controversial issues.

The views expressed in this publication do not necessarily represent the position of the Open Society Institute and are the sole responsibility of the author or authors.