CERCLE DIPLOMATIQUE - issue 03/2023

LE MONDE UZBEKISTAN
Right: Astronom Ulugh Beg
(Samarkand), statue of Amir
Timur (Tashkent), summer
palace of the last Emir,
Bukhara.
Reisefieber.
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Aral Sea
Muynak
Khiwa
Uzbekistan is one of two double-landlocked countries in the world. Along the Old Silk Road a new high speed train links Tashkent
with Khiva.
which is envisaged as a regional platform for the training
of highly qualified specialists and scientists.The
newly created Ministry for Ecology and Climate
change has come up with lots of suggestions and
projects including solar and wind power plants.
Uzbekistan and Austria are linked by a variety of
relationships. After the Corona decline, Austrian exports
reached the pre-crisis level again in 2022 with a
volume of 109 million euros (+34.3%). The largest
direct investments from Austria are a building materials
company and a sack factory. Imports from Uzbekistan
to Austria include mainly electronic devices,
vegetables, fruits and textiles.
Young Uzbeks come to study at local universities,
especially in the technical field. There are complaints
about the long waiting times for visa applications. Uzbek
business people often have to wait weeks for a visa
to Austria, contrary to other EU states like Germany.
The so-called “Bukharian Jews” are specially related
to Austria. Most of them emigrated from the Soviet
republics in Central Asia via Vienna to Israel and
the USA in the early 1970s with the mediation of
Austrian Chancellor Bruno Kreisky. However,
around 3,000 of them later settled in Austria, some
returned to Vienna from their new homeland of Israel,
but were prevented from returning to Central
Asia by the authorities in Moscow at the time. However,
they remain closely connected to their old
homeland, now also through regular visits. A few
years ago, they collected donations for the renovation
of the large Jewish cemetery in Bukhara. “There
are only about 200 jews left in Bukhara. Just 30 years
ago there were 23,000”, says Abram Borissovich
Iskhakov, leader of the small Jewish community and
rabbi. “We live in an Islamic country, but there is still
a synagogue, a Jewish school and a kosher restaurant
here. That’s a clear symbol of tolerance.”
The established Viennese author Walter M.
Weiss, who specializes in Islamic countries, gets enthusiastic
in his book “Lesereise Usbekistan” (Picus
Verlag): “Uzbekistan, this almost half a million
square kilometer big and - blessed with raw materials
such as natural gas, gold, copper, uranium - landlocked
country truly forms a central zone of the history
of civilization, an epicenter of the mind since
antiquity.”
PHOTOS: OTMAR LAHODYNSKY (7), ADOBE STOCK
From top to bottom:
Traditional plov restaurant in Tashkent.
Basar in Bukhara.
Usbek costume.
Fortress Ark, Bukhara.
cewe-fotoservice.at
34 Cercle Diplomatique 3/2023