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The U.S. recognized the independence of Uzbekistan on December 25, 1991, and opened an Embassy in Tashkent in March 1992. U.S.-Uzbek relations have flourished in recent years and were given an additional boost by the March 2002 meeting between President Bush and President Karimov in Washington, DC, where the two countries signed the Declaration of Strategic Partnership. High-level visits to Uzbekistan have increased since September 11, 2001, including that of the U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, and numerous congressional delegations. The U.S. believes that the development of an independent, stable, prosperous, and democratic Central Asia is vital for the inhabitants of Central Asia and the entire world. As the most populous country in Central Asia and the geographic and strategic center of Central Asia, Uzbekistan plays a pivotal role in the region. The United States accordingly has developed a broad relationship covering political, human rights, military, nonproliferation, economic, trade, assistance, and related issues.
The U.S. has consulted closely with Uzbekistan on regional security problems, and Uzbekistan has been a close ally of the United States at the United Nations. Uzbekistan has been a strong partner of the United States on foreign policy and security issues ranging from Iraq to Cuba, and nuclear proliferation to narcotics trafficking. It has sought active participation in Western security initiatives under the Partnership for Peace, OSCE, and the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council. Uzbekistan views its American ties as balancing regional influences, helping Uzbekistan assert its own regional role, and encouraging foreign investment. Uzbekistan is a strong supporter of U.S. military actions in Afghanistan and Iraq and of the global war against terror.
The United States, in turn, values Uzbekistan as a stable, moderate force in a turbulent region. The United States urges greater reform to promote long-term stability and prosperity. Registration of independent political parties and human rights non-governmental organizations (NGOs) would be an important step. The government registered the Independent Human Rights Organization of Uzbekistan in March 2002. One year later, in March 2003, the government registered a second human rights organization, Ezgulik. Enforcement of constitutional safeguards ensuring personal, religious, and press freedom and civil liberties also is needed.
Bilateral Economic Relations
Trade and investment. Trade relations are regulated by a bilateral trade agreement, which entered into force January 14, 1994. It provides for extension of most-favored-nation trade status between the two countries. The U.S. additionally granted Uzbekistan exemption from many U.S. import tariffs under the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP status) on August 17, 1994. A Bilateral Investment Treaty was signed December 16, 1994; it has been ratified by Uzbekistan and received advice and consent of the U.S. Senate in October 2000. However, the Bilateral Investment Treaty will be unlikely to enter into force until Uzbekistan embarks on economic reform. The government is taking some modest steps to reduce the red tape that constrains the nascent private sector.
Assistance. The United States has provided significant humanitarian and technical assistance to Uzbekistan. The U.S. has provided technical support to Uzbekistan's efforts to restructure its economy and to improve its environment and health care system, provided support to nascent NGOs, and provided equipment to improve water availability and quality in the Aral Sea region. Through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Embassy's Public Affairs Section, the U.S. Government supports educational and professional exchanges and other programs that offer Uzbeks the opportunity to study in the United States and to establish professional contacts with their American counterparts. In FY 2002 and 2003, the United States provided roughly $219.8 and $87.4 million, respectively, in humanitarian aid, technical assistance, military-to-military funding, and microcredit support in Uzbekistan. These programs were designed to promote market reform and to establish a foundation for an open, prosperous, democratic society.
USAID provides both technical and humanitarian assistance. Technical assistance to Uzbekistan promotes sound fiscal and management policies, improved private business operations, a competitive private sector, citizens' participation in political and economic decision making, improved sustainability of social benefits and services, private investment in the energy sector, reduced environmental risks to public health, and other multi-sector reform programs. Programs include business training, subsidies for business development, environmental education, and environmental preservation programs. The latter includes the Aral Sea/Regional Water Cooperation program involving the Interstate Council for the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, and the Republic of Uzbekistan, waste minimization demonstration programs, and the National Environmental Action Plan. The USAID/CAR/Uzbekistan water program is aimed at improving water management on both national and local levels, concentrating efforts on sustainable development of the water users’ associations (WUAs). The USAID/CAR/ Uzbekistan health program focuses on 4 chief needs: primary health care reform, infectious disease control, drug demand reduction, and maternal and child health/reproductive health (MCH/RH). The USAID Participation and Education Knowledge Strengthening Program (PEAKS) began in January 2003, focusing on 5 major aspects of the education system: in-service teacher training, school-based curriculum development, parent and community involvement in the decision making, management, and technical capacity at all levels of the education system; and rehabilitation of school infrastructure. In addition to PEAKS pilot schools, more than 100 schools across Uzbekistan received over 1,000 computers from USAID, with more than half of these schools obtaining Internet connections.
Peace Corps staff arrived in Uzbekistan in August 1992, and a bilateral agreement to establish Peace Corps in Uzbekistan was signed November 4, 1992. The first volunteers arrived in December 1992. The U.S. Trade and Development Agency helps fund feasibility studies by U.S. firms and provides other planning services related to major projects in developing countries including Uzbekistan. Department of State-managed exchange programs, farmer-to-farmer exchanges, and the Department of Commerce's Special American Business Internship Training Program (SABIT) contribute to expansion of technical know-how and support bilateral relations. The U.S. also provides export finance/guarantees and political risk insurance for U.S. exporters and investors through the U.S. Export-Import Bank and the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC).
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