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Exploring the Intersection of Industry, Development, and the Environment: A Secondment Journey to Marmara University, Istanbul

By Vokhid Rakhimov, Kurultai R&C

I would like to share my recent secondment experience at Marmara University in Istanbul. As someone with a substantial background in working with industrial facilities (in particular cement production) in Uzbekistan, I embarked on this journey with a curious mind, aiming to understand how developing countries try to strike a delicate balance between economic development and industrial factories’ environmental impact.

My journey began as part of the EU-funded staff exchange project, “Central Asian Law,” a platform fostering collaboration and knowledge exchange among experts in the region. I represent Tashkent-based Kurultai Research and Consulting company, a partner of this exchange project with Lund University as its coordinator. This project not only allowed me to broaden my horizons but also provided an invaluable opportunity to explore the complexities surrounding industrial development in my home country.

My background as an economist has equipped me with a deep understanding of the multifaceted challenges that arise in regions like my hometown Akhangaran, near Tashkent. This area is home to industrial production encompassing chemical plants, cement production, gold, copper and coal mining. They play a pivotal role in the local economy, creating employment opportunities, contributing significantly to tax revenues. On the other hand, the very industries that fuel economic growth also cast a long shadow of environmental hazards over the local population. Chemical plants, cement production, and mining activities inherently produce by-products that, if not managed carefully, pose significant threats to the environment and, consequently, the health of the communities residing nearby.

My secondment experience at Marmara University in Istanbul served as an eye-opener, enabling me to contextualize the challenges faced by regions like Akhangaran within the broader global discourse on sustainable development. The academic and policy experts I engaged with during this period provided valuable insights into potential frameworks and policies that could help strike a more equitable balance between economic growth and environmental stewardship.

At Marmara University, I had the privilege of interacting with a diverse array of individuals, ranging from academic scholars to policy experts. These conversations were instrumental in gaining insights into different perspectives on sustainable development and environmental conservation. The diversity of opinions and experiences shared by the people I met enriched my understanding of the challenges and opportunities inherent in the delicate balance between economic growth and environmental responsibility.

One of the highlights of my secondment was my participation in the final conference and closing ceremony of the “Central Asian Law” project, which took place in early February. This event served as a platform for me to share my research ideas and findings, fostering meaningful discussions with fellow participants. Seeking feedback and advice from this diverse group of experts was an invaluable aspect of my journey, allowing me to refine my ideas and plan a clearer path forward. The insights gathered during my secondment have ignited a passion for delving deeper into these academic questions.

As I reflect on my experiences in Istanbul, I am planning to start a PhD in economics at Tashkent State University of Economics. I want to bring a nuanced understanding of how legal cultures, local business setups, and governance in Uzbekistan are linked to the challenges faced by developing nations in balancing economic growth and environmental protection.

March 8, 2024

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Navigating Transformative Dynamics: Business, Legal Governance, and Higher Education in Uzbekistan

Nilufar Khudayarova in the library

by Nilufar Khudayarova, Researcher – Kurultai Research and Consulting

In August 2023, I started a six-month-long mobility trip to the Faculty of Political Science of Marmara University in Istanbul as part of a research and training project, “Central Asian Law: Legal Cultures and Business Environments in Central Asia.” This project is funded by the European Commission’s H2020 MSCA-RISE programme. Representing the “Kurultai” research and consulting company based in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, my primary focus during this secondment was to explore the dynamic relationship between business, legal governance, and higher education, with a particular emphasis on Central Asia, and Uzbekistan in particular.

During my secondment stay at Marmara University, I have the privilege of being hosted by Professor Erhan Dogan. The fact that my secondment started simultaneously with two researchers from Zhetysu University, Dr. Daniyar Kaldiyarov and Dr. Daniya Nurmukhankyzy, facilitated my smooth adaptation to a new environment. In this short blogpost, I would like to briefly share my experience as a researcher at the Turkish university.

Higher Education in Uzbekistan

One of the focal points of this mobility trip is to explore internationalization and privatization of higher education in Central Asia. This topic is highly pertinent in Uzbekistan, whose higher education system has been undergoing significant transformations in recent years, making it a noteworthy subject of study and research. As Uzbekistan strives to align its educational institutions with contemporary global standards and to foster an environment conducive to economic development, new private universities are being established, and public universities are striving towards internationalization and autonomy. As a result, the number of universities has increased from 77 to 212, and the university attainment coverage has increased from 9 percent to 42 percent, according to recent official records.

As government officials assert, these reforms aim to equip students with practical skills and knowledge that align with the needs of the modern job market, fostering entrepreneurship and economic growth. At the same time, along with new possibilities and potential for further development, these radical changes have also brought challenges to the country’s higher education. Some of these challenges include the need to ensure the quality of education remains high as the system expands rapidly. There is also the concern of potential overproduction of graduates, which could saturate the job market and lead to underemployment. Additionally, the job market itself must adapt to accommodate graduates with diverse skill sets arising from these reforms. Ensuring education remains accessible and affordable is essential, and efforts to prevent brain drain as individuals seek opportunities abroad should also be considered.

In this regard, studying Turkey’s experience is particularly relevant. Turkey went through a transformational period a few decades ago that saw a significant surge in the establishment of both public and private universities. This proliferation of higher education institutions had far-reaching consequences, not least of which was its effect on the overall quality of tertiary education.

Turkey’s experience provides valuable insights into the challenges and opportunities that arise when higher education undergoes rapid expansion. Analyzing Turkey’s experience can offer valuable lessons for Uzbekistan as it strives to strike a similar balance in its own educational reforms. By examining the Turkish example, Uzbekistan can gain insights into strategies for maintaining and enhancing the quality of education while simultaneously accommodating a growing number of institutions and students. This comparative analysis can serve as a guiding framework to help Uzbekistan effectively harness the benefits of its educational reforms while mitigating potential pitfalls. My policy-oriented research particularly has focused on these issues.

Visits to Universities and Interactions with Faculty Members and Students

During my secondment, on a daily basis, I visit Marmara University and engage with faculty members and students. These interactions focus on topics such as curriculum development, research collaboration, and knowledge exchange. Through these visits, I am gaining insights into the role of higher education in driving transformative change and fostering innovation.

Marmara University’s extensive library has quickly become my preferred workspace during my time here, primarily due to its vast collection of books and resources that directly relate to my research interests. This resource-rich environment has proven invaluable in facilitating my exploration of the topics central to my work. At the same time, colleagues at the host university often serve as my research participants in providing me with invaluable firsthand insights into how the Turkish higher education system has evolved in recent years. I also tried to understand the perspectives of Turkish scholars and educators regarding the role of higher education in driving the country’s political, societal, and economic advancement.

Informal conversations during meals, breaks, and social activities also facilitated the sharing of knowledge and expertise among participants. These casual interactions allow me to exchange ideas, insights, and personal experiences in a relaxed setting.

Overall, my secondment mobility is proving to be very useful. Through my studies and interviews with scholars and professors, I have not only refined my current research focus but have also unearthed fresh topics for potential future investigations. I hope I will be able to further develop my research and policy papers in the coming months. The collaborative and interactive nature of this mobility enables me to learn from other experts, broaden my perspectives, share my experience and expertise, and collectively contribute to the understanding of the transformative dynamics of higher education in Central Asia.

November 9, 2023

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Secondment from Kazakhstan to Switzerland: new projects and new horizons

a collage of photos of Nazgul Baigabatova at Zurich University. Photos with other staff memebers of Zurich University. 13 photographs

 by Nazgul Baigabatova and Aliya Kashaganova, Zhetysu University

For over a decade, Zhetysu University, named after I. Zhansugurov in Kazakhstan, has maintained a collaborative relationship with the world-leading University of Zurich in Switzerland. Throughout this period, they have engaged in joint research, conferences, and seminars, culminating in the conduct of a summer school in Taldykorgan in 2022. During these sessions, Swiss students received instruction in the Kazakh language and conducted field research in social and cultural anthropology. This collaboration also led to the creation of a shared research hub, the Eurasian Studies Center, hosted at Zhetysu University.

The partnership between these universities was invigorated by their participation in the international and multi-disciplinary project Central Asian Law: Legal Cultures and Business Environments in Central Asia. Funded by the European Commission within the Horizon framework, this endeavor injected fresh momentum into the growth of their bilateral collaboration, opening up novel avenues for cooperation. Within the scope of the CAL Project, our research secondment took place in March and April of 2023 at the Department of Social Anthropology and Cultural Studies at the University of Zurich.

Throughout this project, we have improved our professional expertise in legal culture, governance, and the business environment in Central Asia. Our stay at the University of Zurich involved research-focused activities such as utilizing library resources and conducting writing work and the invaluable opportunity to interact with department members and visiting scholars who were present during sabbaticals or other projects. The extensive library holdings encompassing regional and diverse subject matters greatly enriched our research. Collaborative consultations with our counterparts in the department, namely Professor Dr. Peter Finke, Dr. Werner Hertzog, and Dr. Meltem Sancak played a pivotal role in refining our paper’s structure, outline, and composition. These interactions bolstered the theoretical and methodological underpinnings of our work.

Over two months, we were privileged to partake in seminars and a series of weekly colloquiums hosted by the department. One such event was the workshop titled “Ethnography, Economy, and Ecology of Pastoralism in Kazakhstan,” co-organized by Dr. Russell Zanca, a professor of anthropology at Northeastern Illinois University, who also holds a visiting professorship at the Center for Eurasian, Russian, and East European Studies at the University of Chicago. Additionally, we participated in Ph.D. public defenses and lectures within the department and at the University.

Being integral members of this venture, representing Zhetysu University named after I. Zhansugurov in Kazakhstan, has proven immensely advantageous for our professional advancement. Our two-month stay at the University of Zurich yielded valuable experiences, fortified our partnerships, and introduced novel perspectives and concepts within evolving paradigms. Additionally, we took advantage of weekends to delve into the history and culture of Switzerland, a country renowned for its beauty and prosperity.

https://www.isek.uzh.ch/de/ethnologie/Mitteilungen/Mitteilungen/Guests-at-ISEK—Social-Anthropology-Spring-2023-2.html

a collage of photos of Nazgul Baigabatova at Zurich University. Photos with other staff memebers of Zurich University. 13 photographs
November 1, 2023

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Secondment and research on women’s representation and participation in political life in Uzbekistan

Meral Balci and colleagues from the WIUT Law department in the office

by Meral Balci, Marmara University

Hello, I am Associate Professor Meral Balcı, a researcher and lecturer at Marmara University, Turkey. I have been working in the Department of International Relations.

I was seconded to the Department of Law at Westminster International University in Uzbekistan for two months as a researcher on the EU-funded Project called Central Asian Law. My study focused on women’s representation and participation in political life in Uzbekistan. For this reason, I stayed in Tashkent, the capital city of historic importance, and had an unforgettable experience for four months. As soon as I arrived in Tashkent, the first thing I realized was the sophisticated culture and historical landscape in Uzbekistan. My first impression is of people in Uzbekistan who are so warm and hospitable.

Photo 1. The staff of the Department of Law at Westminster International University

From the first day of my arrival in Tashkent, I tried to discover and experience the city. As Tashkent was reconstructed after the earthquake of magnitude 8 which destroyed the city completely in 1966 turns into a very pleasant city with wide boulevards, large parks, and green areas. Wherever you go, you see huge trees and large parks to walk, run, sit even take a nap on the benches. I spent hours walking in the parks, eating famous Uzbek somsa, like Italian panzerotti, and talking to the birds walking nearby.

While talking about the city, I don’t get a chance to mention the Uzbek underground system. Uzbekistan has an underground system built in 1977 with clean stations decorated elegantly. I took these photos in front of the Metro Kosmonavtov station, where you can see the footsteps of the space traveler. P.S. I cannot pass by without talking about the Uzbek-originated cosmonaut Vladimir Dzhanibekov, whom Uzbeks are proud of.

Photo 3. Statue of Vladimir Dzhanibekov and Metro Station

What impressed me most was that the city changes its peculiarity by 200 meters. While walking through the streets, still reflecting the years of the 11th or 12th centuries, you suddenly go through very modern ones covered by skillful artists’ paintings, and music coming from street musicians as in Mustafa Kemal Atatürk Street, which is well-known as Broadway Street. It is easily understood that giving the name of the founder of the Turkish Republic to a very famous street shows the roots of Turkish-Uzbek relations go back a long way.

Photo 4. Mustafa Kemal Atatürk Street/ (Broadway Street)

Since Uzbekistan is one of the countries that are culturally closest to the Turks, seeing cities such as Tashkent, Bukhara, Samarkand, and Khiva and meeting Uzbek people gave me emotional moments in terms of understanding my roots and cultural values. The people and customs are very familiar. The names of many cities in Turkey are the same here. When Uzbeks realize that I am Turkish, they show their immense hospitability. I have not had difficulty understanding their language since lots of Uzbek words same in Turkish. Most of the Uzbek intellectuals are well-known in Turkey, like Alisher Navoi, a statesman and scientist who valued the Turkish language and is one of the important figures of Uzbekistan and Turkish history. In Tashkent, you can find lots of works reminding him, such as the walls of the metro station named after him and a monument built in the Magic City of Tashkent, the Opera House, parks, and names of the streets.

Photo 5. Alisher Navoi Monument in Milliy Bog

I have been to the Alisher Navoi Opera House many times since they have been performing very famous operas and ballets; in addition, ticket fees are very cheap here. Once I have been to İlkhom Theatre, a well-known theatre in Tashkent, and watched a play written by a famous Uzbek writer Abdullah Kadiry. Uzbekistan is known for its playwrights and poets, most of whom were executed during the 1938. Their statues can be seen in the famous Milliy Bog.

Photo 6. Alisher Navoi Opera House

When I was in Tashkent, Turkish National Day, the 23rd of April-Children’s Bayram, was celebrated in one of the Turkish schools. I went there and watched the ceremonies prepared by the school with the help of the Turkish Embassy. The Turkish ambassador and his wife, who were very friendly, were there too, they had successfully coordinated all the celebrations, which made me proud of my country.

Photo 7. April 23rd, National Day celebrations in the Turkish school

After working hours at the university, I spent a lot of time outside to discover the city before going to the dormitory. What’s more, after work as the days are long, my friends and I went on a sightseeing on the weekends. I traveled the country and posted photos and videos on my social media accounts. I made several interviews with high-profile women politicians in Uzbekistan, such as some senators from the Senate, deputies from the Parliament, academicians, and businesswomen.

Photo 8. Interview with senators from the Senate, and deputies from the Parliament

When I was in Uzbekistan, I had an opportunity to witness two elections: the April 30 referendum on the new constitution, and 9th July- the elections of the presidency. In both elections, Uzbek people were very calm and far from the excitement about the campaigns compared to the campaigns and elections held in Turkey a month ago.

During my stay in Uzbekistan, I had the opportunity to visit some cities of historically important namely Samarkand, Bukhara, and Khiva. After completing my research in Tashkent, I discovered these famous Uzbekistan cities. My first stop was Urgench, which opens the doors of Khorezm. And I directly flew to Urgench since it was a very long way to the capital city of Tashkent. After having spent a night in Urgench I set off for Khiva, the first site to be inscribed in the World Heritage List in Uzbekistan in 1991. Khiva consists of two parts; Dichan Kala, the outer part of the city, and Ichan Kala, the inner part of the city. The real symbol of the city is the Minaret of KaltaMinor, the monument of oriental architecture. Its design, 29 meters height, and color made this minaret unique.

Photo 11. A photo from Khiva, trying to play drums with the native musicians

After discovering the main tourist attractions of Khiva, I set off for Bukhara, which was also an attractive city. I saw some famous landmarks in the city. One of them is Kalyan Minaret, 45.6 meters in height. It is also known as the Tower of Death because criminals used to be executed by being thrown from the top. I spent a day in Bukhara and tried the famous Bukhara Pilow, which was delicious. The next day I got on Afrosiyob, the fastest train, to Samarkand, the center of the Timurid Empire. Amir Timur is loved in the region. The observatory, located in the city had been built by Ulug Beg, who is both the ruler and scientist and the grandson of Timur. The observatory is considered the most advanced of its time and important in the history of science and was later established in Istanbul.

Photo 12. Timur’s statue in Samarkand

The borders of the Timurid Empire also included Turkestan within the borders of today’s Kazakhstan, where he had the mausoleum of Ahmet Yesevi built. I had a two-day trip to Shymkent and Turkistan cities in Kazakhstan and visited the tomb of Ahmet Yesevi. When I was there, I went to Turk-Kazakh University and talked to the rector of the university and told her about our project. She was interested in our project and told me that she wanted to take part in such EU projects.

13. Rector of the Yesevi University, Yesevi Tomb, on the way to Turkistan

September 18, 2023

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Kazakhstan – a country of Proud, Brave and Kind People

by Erhan Dogan, Marmara University (Istanbul, Turkey)

As part of the EU-funded Central Asian Law Project, I spent a total of three months at Taldykurgan University in Kazakhstan between 31.07.2022-30.09.2022 and 19.06.2023-19.07.2023.

When I first flew to Kazakhstan, I was not alone. Our Swiss project partners were also there. I met the Swiss team at Almaty airport. From the airport we went to our hotels. I thought we were in different hotels, but by chance we were in the same hotel. That day we went on a guided tour of the city, led by Prof. Peter Finke from the University of Zurich. I found Almaty to be a well-planned and beautiful city. It is a modern city with lots of cafes, restaurants, beautiful parks and people. Almaty was the first capital of independent Kazakhstan, later the capital was moved to Astana. During the day we bought our local sim cards, saw and explored the Tsum (a shopping mall that you can see in any ex-Soviet city), did a little sightseeing in the city.

At the end of the day, on the recommendation of Peter Finke’s Kazakh student whom we met there, we went to a Lagman restaurant. Lagman is a type of noodle that is part of Uighur cuisine. My choice was “Gurug Lagman”. It was a delicious handmade noodle. It became one of my favourite dishes during my stay in Kazakhstan.

Picture of a lag

The next day we left for Taldykurgan, the town where our partner university was located. Zhetysu University kindly sent us a minibus to Almaty to take us to Taldykurgan city. It was a hot day. The journey took about three hours. On the way we saw a city full of casinos. The driver introduced the city to us as the Las Vegas of Kazakhstan. The city was Konaev City. After Konaev City we saw an artificial lake and a resort called Kapchagay, which was organised as a kind of holiday resort. We were surprised to see a beach in the middle of the vast Kazakh steppe.

I was impressed by the vastness and emptiness of the steppe between Almaty and Taldykurgan. The area we travelled through was only a small part of Kazakhstan and you can drive for hours without seeing a residential area. I felt the vastness of Kazakhstan on this trip.

After the vast and empty steppe, we suddenly entered a kind of oasis. This is how I can describe what I saw. The steppe was dry and yellowish, but Taldykurgan was an oasis of different shades of green. It was a fertile land.

The university kindly provided us with accommodation in Taldykurgan. They allocated us the ground floor of a student dormitory, which was used as a guest house for visiting researchers. The building, we were later told, was originally built as a five-star hotel. Somehow it was never finished, and by decision of an official authority it was handed over to the university to be used as a student dormitory and guesthouse. The hotel building was huge and impressive. It was right next to an artificial lake. From my balcony I could see the lake. It was so relaxing.

The day after we arrived in Taldkurgan, we went to the university. They showed us our offices and we settled in. During the day we were introduced to the Vice Rector of the University by the Head of the International Office. I must say that the Head of the International Office was a very helpful and professional person. She helped us throughout our stay in Taldykurgan, along with the local project coordinators.

During our stay, we also met the rector of the university. We exchanged ideas on how to develop cooperation between our universities. In addition to the research I did there, I also spent some time developing cooperation between my university and the university in Taldykurgan. Later, I made efforts to sign a Memorandum of Understanding between Marmara University and Zhetysu University. The memorandum was finally signed by both rectors. Now we have a framework through which the two universities would extend their cooperation to the future, exchange students and academic staff.

During my days in Taldykurgan I had a chance to see the surroundings of the city thanks to Prof. Peter Finke and Dr Meltem Sancak. They kindly accepted me to join their excursions in and around the city. I had a chance to see Dovlet Bazaar, I also saw Balpik Bi Bazaar. Seeing bazaars in Central Asia is a great teaching experience. You have the chance to observe the food that people eat, you have the chance to observe the things that they bring to the bazaar to sell. As well as the visible things of everyday life, you also have a chance to see the less visible things that are demanded and sold in the market.

In the following days we were invited to a house party by one of the professors at the university and her husband. They served us the famous Kazak food called “Beshbarmak” (five fingers). This is a dish made from horse meat. It was my first experience of tasting horse-meat. Although the idea of eating horse-meat was foreign to me, I joined the feast, I tasted it. What I can say about this experience is not much, it was a different experience. We were also served some pieces of boiled sheep’s head. I learnt that this was served to the distinguished guests, so it would be unkind not to try it. Again, a very different experience.

The same host also invited us to experience horse riding during the following days. We went to their fields and tried to ride a horse. During this experience I had an accident. This little accident caused some minor health problems like vertigo for the rest of my stay in Kazakhstan. I had some health checks and continued my research with some delays.

My research was mainly about the experiences of Turkish businessmen in Kazakhstan. My research question was simple. This research question required me to conduct interviews with Turkish businessmen. As there were no Turkish businessmen in Taldykurgan, I decided to go to Almaty for a week. Before going there, I corresponded with people there and made some appointments. My first visit was to the Secretary General of the Turkish-Kazakh Business Council. I had a good interview with the Secretary General, and right after the interview I prepared an interview report. While preparing the report I felt a little dizzy, but I did not take it seriously. After this meeting I went to my second meeting. It was with a professor from one of the most prestigious universities in Kazakhstan, KİMEP. After my meeting with the professor from KIMEP, my dizziness increased. I called my doctor and told her about my problem. She asked me to cancel all my appointments and rest. I followed the doctor’s instructions.

Unfortunately, I had to cancel all the interviews I had arranged. For the rest of the week I went to a clinic in Almaty and they checked my problem. They could not find anything serious, but my problems continued for some time.

I returned to Taldykurgan and delivered the rest of my project commitments. While I was staying at the guesthouse, I also had talked to the students who were staying in the dormitory. The young Kazakh students were so nice. They are not so different from our students in Turkey in terms of their attitudes, expectations of life, worries etc.

Before I left Kazakhstan to go back to Turkey, I also planned to spend a week in Almaty. The plan was simple – go back to Almaty, do some interviews and return to Turkey from there.

In Almaty I had two important meetings. One was with a Turkish company that had invested in this country since the early 1990s. I had a chance to interview them. I asked them about their experience. They were very experienced and knowledgeable people. They understood what I wanted to reserach well. They even arranged an interview for me with a local Kazakh law firm that was serving Turkish clients. The interview I had with this law firm was almost a combination of several interviews I would have with different business people there. The representative of the law firm was so experienced and he showed me the outlines of the Turkish businessmen’s experience in Kazakhstan. Of course, these were just the observations of a law firm, not the original perspective of Turkish companies. At the end of my secondment, I returned to my home university in Turkey.

In the summer of 2023, I planned another secondment to Kazakhstan. This was a slightly more mobile secondment where I had the chance to see different parts of Kazakhstan. Again, I flew to Almaty first. After spending a few days there, I moved to Taldykurgan. I split the last week of my secondment between Almaty and Astana. First I went to Almaty. There I had the opportunity to meet one of my PhD students and her family, who are originally from Almaty. I also had the chance to revisit one of the interviewees I had interviewed a year earlier. After Almaty, I flew to Astana.

Astana is a completely different city. It is a newly built city full of monumental buildings. There I had the opportunity to meet some Kazakh doctoral students who had visited Marmara University and took part my classes a few years ago. I also met another PhD student from Gumilov University, for whom I am an external supervisor. I also visited the Turkish Embassy and spoke to the Turkish Ambassador about the business experiences of Turkish businessmen in Kazakhstan. After the ambassador, I visited the commercial attaché of Turkey there and asked him about his experiences about the Turkish businessmen and their adaptation to the business and legal environment in Kazakhstan. They understood my concerns and research topic/questions well. They promised to put me in touch with some Turkish businessmen through whom I could explore the boundaries of my research topic. In my first correspondence with them, they recommended some names. However, these names and companies did not respond positively to me. Astana is a beautiful and vibrant city. I also had the opportunity to meet professors from Gumilov University. We decided to develop new projects for the future.

One last point. The Turkish and Kazakh languages, despite the gap and differences that would make you think that the language barrier is not easy to overcome, are interestingly closer to each other. Throughout my stay, I somehow began to understand what people were saying, and I had also partially conveyed my messages to them. Among my experiences, my communication with the Secretary General of Zhetysu University is worth mentioning. The Secretary General spoke to me in Kazakh and I spoke to him in Turkish, but somehow we understood each other. Of course, the details were lost, but in 3 months nobody will learn another language at this level, was my final conclusion. There is Kazakh in Turkish and Turkish in Kazakh. So if you want to communicate and you use the vocabulary that is closer to the other language, you can to some extent communicate with Kazakhs as a Turk. There are many possible misunderstandings that are unavoidable, but if you like to communicate and if you are ready to communicate in good faith, these misunderstandings would not cause serious problems. This was the most important and sweetest taste I took away from my secondment to Kazakhstan besides the nice and friendly people that I met there.

6 people sitting in a kitchen inside a house
A Kazakh Family who immigrated from Mongolia, Together with Peter Finke and Meltem Sancak

Inside of a church
the view of the mountains in the background and old concrete remains of a building
This is an old Kolhoz

Meet stall with meat hanging
Fruit stall with a seller in Kazakhstan
September 7, 2023

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The role of modern information technologies in the fight against corruption

a hand typing on the keyboard, dark theme

by Diyorbek Ibragimov, guest researcher from the Law Enforcement Academy of Uzbekistan

It is worth saying that nowadays it is impossible to imagine social life without information technologies. Information technologies have penetrated into every sphere of social life. In particular, in anti-corruption programs developed by the world community, in scientific and applied research, information technologies are considered one of the important positive advancements in preventing corruption.

However, to effectively use the existing opportunities of information technology in the fight against corruption, it is necessary to thoroughly analyze the causes of corruption in each field, the conditions that create opportunities for it, and the dangers of its possible occurrence in the future. Also, introducing the best practices of foreign countries in this regard in fighting against national corruption may not constantly have a positive effect.  After all, corruption has taken root in different forms and conditions in every country and society.

Scientific and practical studies show that there are two different views on the important aspects of the introduction of information technologies in the fight against corruption in the world. First, through ICT opportunities, the entire population has access to open information about the activities of state agencies, as well as active public control over their activities. The impact of ICT against corruption is influenced by the reduction of information asymmetries, the automation of processes, the limitation of public officials’ discretion, and the reduction of intermediaries and red tape (Grönlund et al., 2010). The second is to prevent corruption factors by digitizing the activities of state bodies. In this case, the most important thing is to prevent corruption by reducing the human factor in the implementation of some areas of activity of state bodies.

In today’s world, the introduction of modern information technologies in the fight against corruption plays a significant role in promoting transparency, and accountability, and preventing various forms of misconduct in the activities of all government institutions. When specialists describe it, they refer to “creating accountability by exposing misconduct about situations that occur within the government” (Roberts, 2002). In fact, creating accountability is considered one of the most important methods to reduce corruption. Therefore, one of the most important and effective methods in combating corruption within government institutions is the establishment of transparent accountability platforms. Through such platforms, citizens have direct access to familiarize themselves with the activities of the government, particularly the utilization of the main budgetary funds, obtaining and analyzing real financial information about financial operations, and having the opportunity to assess them. However, despite the advantages of modern information technologies in ensuring the transparency of government leadership and the activities of government institutions, there are challenges in fully utilizing their capabilities. Online platforms that have been emphasized as effective tools are not sufficiently developed, and the availability of up-to-date information is often restricted, limiting access to essential data. Additionally, the unreliability of internet resources and other factors undermine their direct impact.

Therefore, the principle of transparency in the functioning of government institutions plays a crucial role in combating corruption and determining its effectiveness. In particular, a study conducted by the research group Oxford Insights in 2019 analyzed the transparency of information and the level of corruption risks within government institutions (Petheram, Pasquarell & Stirling, 2019). The study results suggest that there is no direct and strict relationship between the level of transparency and the level of corruption. Exactly, in countries like Switzerland where the level of information transparency in government institutions is low, the level of corruption is also low. Conversely, in countries like Brazil where information transparency is high, the level of corruption is also high.

Therefore, in Uzbekistan, it is necessary to ensure the transparency of the activities of the state agencies, so that they do not become symbolic in the prevention of corruption. For this, it is necessary to implement the transparency of the state management system and the activities of state agencies through artificial intelligence that excludes the human factor. Otherwise, there is a high possibility that this system will be used as an informational tool rather than a fight against corruption.

Additionally, crowdsourcing platforms are playing an important role in the fight against corruption nowadays. According to the opinions of field experts, modern technologies like these are effectively contributing to tackling corruption. Particularly, citizens are actively providing positive outcomes by sharing information about corruption through mobile communications and the Internet, which helps in proactively addressing corruption issues. Moreover, according to the Telecommunication Development Sector (ITU-D) 2022, a staggering 8 billion people worldwide, which accounts for 66% of the global population, currently use the Internet. This indicates the significant potential to shape and enhance citizens’ ability to engage in the fight against corruption, including reporting and combating it. The widespread utilization of the internet not only facilitates awareness but also promotes advancement and acceleration in the efforts to combat corruption.

“Undoubtedly, combating corruption in such a system is considered an important step in shaping the ability to work against it in society as a whole. However, it should also be noted that, in our opinion, such a system is primarily designed to share, that is, to report, cases of petty corruption in the public sector.

Furthermore, worldwide, including in Uzbekistan, digitizing government services has been one of the important steps in tackling corruption. Digitizing government services reduces direct interactions between citizens and officials, streamlining the process of service delivery. This automation of service provision also allows for the identification of any monetary transactions that may be required for the completion of a specific service between citizens and officials. Therefore, it is crucial to prioritize the implementation of any necessary financial mechanisms that enable citizens to carry out government services electronically, including electronic payments for citizenship and other services, in order to create a range of possibilities in this area. This indicates that in the fight against government corruption, the extent to which modern information technologies are introduced is crucial. If these technologies are not actively and effectively implemented within the government administration system and if citizens are not provided with the opportunity to utilize them actively and efficiently, it hinders the anticipated benefits and outcomes.

Indeed, for example, according to the highest ratings in terms of internet penetration and usage among countries, Uzbekistan is not among them (Statista, 2023). In the highest indicators of this rating, we can see countries such as Denmark, Sweden, and Norway, which are recognized as countries with a low corruption factor in the rating of Transparency International, where service sectors and the public administration system are digitized.

                      Additionally, the advancement of the usage of digital payment systems by citizens also reduces the need for cash transactions, which in itself serves as an important indicator for combating corruption within society. Furthermore, if we consider the experience of countries that consistently rank highest in the corruption index, we can observe that these countries often have highly digitized payment systems in place. For example, although it was the first country to issue banknotes, Sweden is the most cashless society in the world today, with just 32 ATMs in operation per 100,000 people, and with more than 98% of its citizens owning a debit/credit card and some studies suggest that physical cash could be eradicated from its economy by 2024. According to the World Bank, with 98% of its citizens having embraced the debit/credit card system, Norway could be the first country in Europe to declare itself cashless. Furthermore, data shows that in 2021, only between 2 and 3% of transactions at the point of sale in Norway were carried out using cash (FinTech, 2022). It is necessary to emphasize that a high prevalence of cash transactions within society can facilitate corrupt practices by making them easier to carry out. Therefore, reducing the reliance on cash transactions can be considered as one of the factors that make it more difficult for individuals to engage in corrupt activities.

In addition to that, one of the main reasons for the occurrence of corrupt acts in society is the abuse of authority by responsible individuals, who exploit their powers in violation of the law by making arbitrary administrative decisions. Consequently, there is a growing trend globally towards automating the decision-making process. The automation of decision-making involves gathering legally relevant information and making legal decisions based on it. Within the framework of the proposed model, the official is excluded from traditional corruption schemes as a voluntary decision-making subject, so there is no need to pay bribes (Rakhimov & Turdiboev, 2021).

Indeed, combating corruption is crucial in ensuring the protection of human rights, and one of the key objectives is the effective implementation of fair and impartial justice (UNODC, 2017). In reality, courts serve as the sole institution responsible for safeguarding and guaranteeing human rights through the implementation of fair justice. Therefore, ensuring the legality of decisions made by courts and enhancing the integrity of their activities are among the most important tasks in combating corruption in the judicial system. In this regard, numerous international investigations, projects, and extensive studies have been conducted. Particularly, the automation of the court decision-making process contributes to transparency, accountability, independence, equal treatment before the law, and the delivery of fair justice (Matacic, 2018; Zalnieriute and Bell, 2019; Morison and Harkens, 2019; Wang, 2020; English et al., 2021). These efforts aim to eliminate the possibility of corrupt practices in the court decision-making process and ensure integrity.

Artificial Intelligence (“AI”) is swiftly becoming a relevant component in judicial decision-making processes around the globe (Reiling, 2020). In summary, in some investigations, opinions exist regarding the necessity of using artificial intelligence algorithms in the 4 stages of information processing: 1) information acquisition; 2) information analysis; 3) decision-making; 4) ensuring the implementation of decisions (D.Barysė; R.Sarel, 2023).

In summary, the fight against corruption and the direct connection between corruption and information technologies are comprised of the following aspects. According to analyses provided by Transparency International (Transparency International, 2022) Corruption can take many forms, and can include behaviors like:

– public servants demanding or taking money or favours in exchange for services,

– politicians misusing public money or granting public jobs or contracts to their sponsors, friends, and families,

– corporations bribing officials to get lucrative deals.

In situations like these, it is possible to observe the effectiveness of modern information technologies in combating them and taking preventive measures based on the aforementioned analyses. In short, modern information technologies empower responsible individuals to monitor the actions of authorities, reduce instances of misappropriation of state funds by them, and create opportunities to oversee every financial operation. Additionally, it enables simplifying cash transactions within society or providing other valuable assets.

In general, information technologies are not the primary means of combating corruption, but they are considered one of the effective methods in the fight against corruption. Its positive capabilities, in conjunction with other methods and institutions, contribute to combating corruption in accordance with the intended purpose. This implies that in utilizing information technologies against corruption, it should be implemented in a comprehensive manner, taking into account political, legal, socioeconomic, and infrastructural factors.

REFERENCES

А.Grоnlund, R.Heacock & D.Sasaki, J.Hellstrоm, W.Al-Saqaf. (2010) Increasing Transparency and Fighting Corruption Through ICT Empowering People and Communities SPIDER ICT4D Series no. 3. [online resource] URL: https://spider1.blogs.dsv.su.se/wpcontent/blogs.dir/362/files/2016/11/SpiderICT4D-series-3-Increasing-transparency-and-fighting-corruption-through-ICT.pdf.

Roberts, 2002. Keeping public officials accountable through dialogue: Resolving the accountability paradox. Public Administration Review, 62(6), 658–669. doi:10.1111/1540-6210.00248

Petheram, Pasquarelli, Stirling, 2019. The Next Generation of Anti-Corruption Tools: Big Data, Open Data & Artificial Intelligence, available at: https://www.oxfordinsights.com/ai-for-anticorruption (accessed 10 June 2021).

The Telecommunication Development Sector (ITU-D) 2022 [online resource] https://www.itu.int/en/ITU-D/Pages/About.aspx).

Statista, 2023. [online resource] https://www.statista.com/statistics/227082/countries-with-the-highest-internet-penetration-rate/

FinTech, 2022. Top SIX Digital Payments Countries About to go Cashless. [online resource] https://fintechmagazine.com/digital payments/top-six-digital-payments-countries-about-to-go-cashless

С.Рахимов, Х.Турдибоев, 2021. Коррупцияга қарши курашишда янги рақамли технологияларни қўллаш. “Iqtisodiyot va innovatsion texnologiyalar” ilmiy elektron jurnali. № 3, may-iyun, 2021 yil, 333-338.

UNODC, 2017. [online resource] https://www.unodc.org/dohadeclaration/en/news/2018/04/corruption–human-rights–and-judicial-independence.htm   

Matacic, (2018) Are algorithms good judges? Science 359:263–263. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.359.6373.263

Morison J, Harkens A (2019) Re-engineering justice? Robot judges, computerized courts, and (semi)automated legal decision-making. Leg Stud 39:618–635. https://doi.org/10.1017/lst.2019.5

Wang N (2020) “Black Box Justice”: robot judges and AI-based Judgment processes in China’s Court system. In: 2020 IEEE international symposium on Technology and Society (ISTAS). IEEE, Tempe, AZ, USA, pp 58–65

English S, Denison S, Friedman O (2021) The computer judge: expectations about algorithmic decisionmaking. In: Proceedings of the annual meeting of the cognitive science society, pp 1991–1996

Reiling AD (2020) Courts and artificial intelligence. Int J Court Adm 11:1

D.Barysė, R.Sarel, 2023. Algorithms in the court: does it matter which part of the judicial decision-making is automated? Artif Intell Law (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10506-022-09343-6

Transparency International, 2022. What is corruption? https://www.transparency.org/en/what-is-corruption

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Jintao’s research secondment experience in Uzbekistan

by Jintao Yang, PhD student at the University of Latvia

Hello everyone! Welcome to my blog! My name is Jintao Yang, and I am a PhD student from the Faculty of Business, Economics and Management at the University of Latvia, Riga, Republic of Latvia. In January 2023, I had the opportunity to participate in the “Central Asian Law: Legal Cultures and Business Environments in Central Asia” research and training project funded by the European Commission. My secondment program took place at the Westminster International University in Tashkent (WIUT), Uzbekistan, from January to April 2023, where I aimed to determine the influencing factors of foreign direct investment (FDI) flows from European Union (EU) to Central Asia.

My primary objective during the secondment was to explore the influencing factors of FDI flows from the EU to Central Asia. This included determining the factors that attract EU FDI to the region and the challenges that EU companies face when investing in the Central Asian region. During the secondment, I had the opportunity to meet many nice colleagues within our project, including Professor Erhan Dogan, Professor Deniz GENÇ, Dr. Huajing Yang and Professor Meral Balci. I am very grateful for their support and help. Additionally, I would like to express my thanks to every senior in the office of the Law Department of WIUT for their care and concern.

One of the biggest challenges I faced during the secondment was the unavailability of data on FDI flows and stocks from the European Union to Uzbekistan. However, with the help of Mr. Akhtem Useinov, Senior R&D Officer at WIUT, I found the Uzbek version of the data in the library of the university. Really thank him so much! Through my research, I gained new insights into the influencing factors of FDI flows from the European Union to Central Asia. The research experience in the region will be one of the important keys to start my academic career.

a collage of different places in uzbekistan, with Jintao Yang in some of the pictures. buildings, monuments, people.

Overall, the secondment experience in Uzbekistan was particularly valuable. Not only have I made many new research connections here, but a deeper understanding of the business environment in Central Asia will benefit my future research.

“☀️👉🇺🇿😍And let’s not forget the best part of my secondment in Uzbekistan🇺🇿 – the sunshine☀️! As a researcher🕵️, I can confirm that the UV rays have had a significant impact on my data analysis skills📊🧑‍💻. So, if you’re looking for a career boost📈and a golden tan🌟, I highly recommend a research secondment in Uzbekistan🇺🇿😉.”

Thanks! Rahmat! Teşekkürler! Paldies! Xiexie!

April 21, 2023

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Research at Lund University on identifying and assessing corruption risks in the construction sector

by Diyorbek Ibragimov, guest researcher from the Law Enforcement Academy of Uzbekistan

About me

Welcome to my blog post about the secondment experience at Lund University in Sweden! My name is Diyorbek Ibragimov and I am a guest researcher at Lund University. My secondment started on the 1st of February. In this blog post, I would like to talk about my experience in Sweden, certain aspects of Swedish culture, also the research environment at Lund University, as well as about my project.

It is essential to mention that, Lund University is highly ranked in many international comparisons of higher education institutions. The University has been consistently placed in the global top 100 in different university rankings. Therefore, it gave me great pleasure to conduct research at this university.

Lund University made an impression on me as a wonderful real science institution that provides equal opportunities for students, university staff, and visiting researchers like us. As soon as I started my research work, I attended a seminar discussion of Marie Leth-Espensen’s research on the topic of “Animals and the politics of suffering” and Heraclitos Muhire’s research on the topic of “Revolving doors to the private sector? A socio-legal study on top state and region officials’ transitions to the private sector and their regulation adults”. And, they gave me a wonderful opportunity to enrich my scientific skills and experience.  

Diyorbek Ibragimov in front of the Lund University main library

About my research work

Currently, corruption is one of the painful problems not only in Central Asian countries but also in the whole world. It should be noted that corruption has negative effects on the economic, social, and political development of the country. So, “corruption, primarily affecting weak states in Eastern Europe, Africa, Asia, and Latin America, is the main cause of poverty and inequality” (Urinboyev, Mustafoev, 2023). This can be justified by several approaches. One of the most important of them is in countries with a lower economic index, the standard of living of the population will be also lower. As a result of this, these reasons create conditions for evolving situations such as attempts to improve living conditions and gain wealth by the population, especially officials, through corruption.

By the way, the construction industry has become one of the biggest businesses. The increasing of population in the world is causing for a growing need for construction. Studies show it has predicted that global construction output will increase by more than 70%, to US $15 trillion per year worldwide, by 2025. Some of those countries where the highest growth is predicted are also perceived as having the highest levels of corruption (K&L Gates, 2014). In turn, it should be noted that corruption risks are also increasing in this field.

On the other hand, it has been proven that сorruption in the construction sector can directly threaten human life, as can be seen in the examples of disasters in Turkey and Syria. On the night of 5 February, a severe earthquake occurred in southern Turkey on the border with Syria. Twelve days after a devastating earthquake hit Turkey and Syria, more than 46,000 people have died and more than 84,000 buildings have either been severely damaged, need urgent demolition, or collapsed, according to officials. What attracted my attention was that the city of Erzin, which is situated 80-100 km away from the major earthquake-damaged cities in Turkey, was not damaged by the earthquake (Aljazeera, 2023).  No major damage, and no deaths, because, reportedly, they have always been strict to enforce construction quality standards.

Who can guarantee that such natural disasters will not happen again in every part of the world? Therefore, the prevention of corruption in the construction industries, and the implementation of construction works based on the established standards is one of the main priority tasks today. One of the most important signs of preventing corruption in the construction industry is the identification and assessment of corruption risks. In particular, Charles Louis Montesquieu said in his philosophical legal work “On the Spirit of Laws” (1748), “… the intelligent legislator is not concerned about the punishment of crime, but about the prevention of crimes”.

In general, in Uzbekistan, several measures are being implemented to prevent corruption, identification, and assessment of corruption risks not only in the construction sector but also in other areas. As presented above, the role of construction in the life of the country has become significant, in particular, as of January 1, 2021, as the number of enterprises and organizations in the construction sector has reached 41,000, which has increased by 1.7 times or 17,100 units compared to 2017 (Stat.uz, 2021). All this imposes an obligation to make this industry an area free from corruption, building facilities that can meet the standards for the future.

It should be noted that in Uzbekistan, as in other CIS member states, existing social relations are regulated by adopting and applying normative legal documents. In particular, the Law “On Combating Corruption” was adopted, which defines the main directions of the state policy in the field of combating corruption, the state bodies that directly carry out anti-corruption activities, and their duties and functions. In addition, the Decision of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan “On measures to improve mechanisms to remove corruption risks in the field of public administration and expand public participation in this sphere” was adopted in order to identify corruption risks and eliminate them. Most importantly, in order to prevent corruption risks in the construction industry, the “Transparent Construction” information system was launched, which includes the development of an architectural-planning task, the examination of project-estimate documents, construction control, in a word, the processes from beginning to the end of construction. The main purpose is to prevent corruption in this field, as well as to reduce the human factor as much as possible. The most important point is that this system is directly integrated into the prosecutor’s office, and it gives an opportunity to the prosecutor’s office for effective prosecutorial supervision over the execution of legislation in this field.

The institutional and legal framework for anti-corruption reviews has been established in Uzbekistan, but the existing potential is not being used as effectively as it could be (Urinboev, 2020).   

Despite the implementation of a number of measures to prevent corruption, identification, and assessment of corruption risks in Uzbekistan, the country’s place in international rankings and indexes remains behind. This means that there are still drawbacks in implementing the actual content of normative legal documents aimed at preventing corruption. That is, the development of legal documents aimed at identifying and preventing corruption risks in the construction sector does not mean that corruption problems in this sector have been eliminated.

During my guest research stay, I will try to study this topic and provide an analysis of existing problems and shortcomings in the identification, assessment, and prevention of corruption risks in the construction sector, as well as opportunities for their elimination.

Building culture in Lund

In general, in Lund, special attention is paid to urban planning, the construction industry, and the fact that the buildings show the bright beauty of the 18th century and it attracts a person. It is obvious that every building was built with high quality. Therefore, in Sweden, specifically in Lund, I am deeply interested in studying the construction culture, the mechanism of implementation of the processes related to it, and getting acquainted with the work carried out in this regard to identify and evaluate corruption risks. I will share my learnings and impressions on this subject in future analyses, articles, and blogs.

REFERENCES

1. Aljazeera, 2023. Earthquake death toll surpasses 46,000 in Syria, Turkey. https://ww.
aljazeera.com/news/2023/2/18/earthquake-death-toll-surpasses-46000-in-syria-turkey
.

3. K&L Gates, 2014. Biggest Risk of Corruption in The Construction Industry. The Global Picture.

2. Stat.uz, 2021. Information on the demographics of the activities of enterprises and organizations in the Republic of Uzbekistan. https://stat.uz/images/uploads/reliz2021/presreliz_101122_uzb_compressed.pdf

4. Urinboyev R, Mustafoev T., 2023. Law, society, and corruption: exploring (Anti-) corruption from interdisciplinary and multilevel perspectives. Research report / Coursebook in Sociology of law 2023:1, 7.

5. Urinboev R, 2020. Central Asian law: legal cultures, governance, and business environment in Central Asia. A collection of papers from Central Asian guest researchers seconded to Lund university, 79.   

March 22, 2023

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Life in Kyrgyzstan and research on double taxation: secondment from the University of Latvia

Bishkek, capital of Kyrgzystan, a building, a monument, fountain, greenery
Picture source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bishkek-capital-of-Kyrgyzstan.jpg

by Krists Ansons, PhD candidate at the University of Latvia

I am Krists Ansons and I am a PhD student at the University of Latvia. In Kyrgyzstan my hosting institution was LLC “SIAR research&consulting” which helped me with my research, information gathering and even gave general advice on living in Kyrgyzstan. I work in international tax law, transfer pricing and in my daily work specialize in conclusion of advance pricing arrangements and solving mutual agreement procedures. So far, I have lived for 6 months in Kyrgyzstan, from middle of April 2022 until now, end of September 2022. Central Asian Law project is relevant to me in three ways – personally, professionally and academically. But for the sake of convenience, I will start with my personal experience in Kyrgyzstan so far.

Central Asian Law project is relevant to me personally, as applying to this project provided me with a wonderful opportunity to widen my point of view and improve my knowledge of inter culture business relations. During this project I realized, that Kyrgyzstan, is a very accessible country for tourists. For example, I, as a citizen of an EU state, could come to Kyrgyzstan without a visa, and I could stay there for up to two months per visit. Furthermore, it was possible to cross the border and come back, to extend the visit. This lack of required formalities was refreshing, as my trip required almost no bureaucracy. As there were no direct flights from Latvia to Kyrgyzstan, I opted a flight from Riga to Bishkek (the capital of Kyrgyzstan) with transfer in Istanbul (Turkish Airlines) the total time spent on the flights was around 9 hours, so upon arrival I was pretty tired. My first impression started with the look from the airplane window to the Manas international airport, which from above resembled more of a military base. Yet from the inside it looked like a typical airport, with check of passport, and scan of baggage, and some available shops. I recommend everyone upon arrival, if you want to use internet and order a taxi in the city, to buy a Kyrgyz sim card in the airport, as it is very easy to do, so as no formalities are required. Furthermore, it is cheap. For around 10 dollars it is possible to buy a local sim card with unlimited internet for a month.

Krists Ansons with staff at host partner in Kyrgyzstan – SIAR Research and Consulting

My second impression was exiting the airport, as outside I was greeted by numerous taxi drivers offering a fare, which came as a complete surprise to me, as so far the airport was a quiet, calm and orderly place – yet at the door, there was a crowd waiting. My hotel had already arranged a transfer there, so I went past without taking their services. Speaking about driving, Kyrgyz drivers tend to drive dangerously, but confidently, as few people follow the road rules. Most of the people in Kyrgyzstan are Muslim, but Kyrgyzstan is a secular country, therefore religion is separated from the state. In Kyrgyzstan, there are two official languages the Kyrgyz language and Russian. As I had learned Russian at school, I could use it comfortably to get around, but in day-to-day life English is used rarely, most receptionists in hotels and servers in restaurants knew it, but you should not expect everyone here to know it as English language is not a mandatory subject in their education system. Regarding the food, almost all the dishes in Kyrgyzstan are prepared from meat products.

The country itself is gorgeous, I visited the Kyrgyzstan capital Bishkek and so-called southern capital Osh. In these cities you can quite easily rent an apartment or a room in hotel using booking.com, Airbnb and other sites. I also visited Issyk-Kul lake, which is one of the largest mountain lakes in the world. In between these locations I saw beautiful mountains (80% of the country is covered in mountains), where the locals had set up their summer yurts and set up their flocks of horses, sheep and other animals to graze. I also saw roadside cafes, roadside mosques and other smaller and bigger cities. I also tried my hand at riding a horse for the first time in here. Summer here is hot, the temperature can reach above 35C degrees, yet the mountains are cool. Even in the middle of summer the people living in their summer yurts were dressed warm.

It was easy to live in Bishkek as money exchanges, shops, taxis and ATMs are everywhere. Regardless if you like to bargain or not, I recommend to visit the eastern style bazaars, as there you can buy almost everything while getting to know a little bit of the people’s mentality. I liked living there, and really felt myself at home, as everything a remote worker may need is there, also the cost of products, transport and services is significantly lower than in other countries.

Therefore, I can conclude that having the suffix “stan” and formerly being in the Soviet Union does not necessarily mean that there would be any obstacles for tourism and daily living.

Central Asian Law project is relevant to me professionally, as Central Asian countries, including Kyrgyzstan, are one of the priority cooperation partners of Latvia’s development cooperation policy. Furthermore, Kyrgyzstan has concluded Treaty for the avoidance of double taxation with Latvia which entered in force on 04.03.2008. Therefore, there is a basis for substantial level of economic cooperation between Latvia and Kyrgyzstan, if there is demand and supply. According to the central statistics bureau of Latvia, for the 2021. financial reporting year companies from Republic of Latvia exported goods to Kyrgyzstan in the value of 7 million EUR (mainly food products, canned sardines, canned mackerel, malt beer, medicine), and imported goods from Kyrgyzstan in the value of 600 000 EUR (mainly metals and its products). Imports from Kyrgyzstan to Latvia used to be roughly 3 times higher, but starting from 2020 financial reporting year Kyrgyzstan has decreased export of ore and precious metals, that used to make up the bulk of the imports to Latvia.

Central Asian Law project is relevant to me academically, as my thesis is on “the importance of international mutual agreement procedures in tax cases”. Taxes are the basis of the jurisdiction’s existence as the payment of taxes is part of a public contract (for example, constitution) between citizens or residents, and the jurisdiction. My thesis is linked with international taxation, which is relevant when a person or business is subject to the tax laws of different jurisdictions. With the development of technology, for companies and individuals, the place of performing economic activity and its auxiliary activities is no longer so important, hence person or business might be subject to the tax laws of different jurisdictions. Each jurisdiction has built their tax system based on their own policies and definitions which are not always coordinated with the other jurisdictions. The concluded Treaties for the avoidance of double taxation works to align the taxing rights of jurisdictions when there is an international element, that is in case when double taxation might occur, when it has occurred, or when it will occur. Double taxation is a restriction on property rights where the same profits are taxed twice. Tax law distinguishes between two types of double taxation: legal double taxation (the same income of one taxpayer is taxed in several countries), economic double taxation (the same income of two different taxpayers is taxed in the same country). It goes without saying that in this age of globalization there should be a right not to be taxed twice for the same income, therefore an instrument is necessary to prevent this situation. This instrument is tax conventions which contain mechanisms that prevent double taxation. Mutual agreement procedures are one of the instruments, when the normal application of the treaty norms has not resulted in solving the double taxation case. According to the treaty the tax payer can ask for the states to initiate this mutual agreement procedure to solve the double taxation case.

My task as a researcher within the scope of the Central Asian Law project was to find out how Kyrgyzstan has implemented the 25th paragraph (mutual agreement procedures) of the Model Tax Convention on Income and on Capital in their 30 concluded treaties for the avoidance of double taxation with the purpose of finding out if any changes would be necessary for them to align with the latest OECD recommendations and minimum standards. My other task was to find out how and if the 25th paragraph is applied in practice. These tasks are relevant as functional mutual agreement procedure regulation helps prevent double taxation, therefore making the jurisdiction better target for international businesses and investments.

Regarding these tasks I will publish the results in my paper as I finish my work within the Central Asian Law project.

December 13, 2022

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Secondment in Riga researching Latvia’s natural resource management policies

Building of Latvia's National Library in Riga

by Nilyufar Abdulatova, Lecturer in Law (Westminster International University in Tashkent)

“Research is creating new knowledge.”
(Neil Armstrong)

Experience to share

Workshop time, Lund Sweden

This time the secondment started with a fruitful workshop hosted by Lund University in Sweden. During the workshop, my project colleagues and I exchanged our research experiences. Moreover, I had a chance to attend a series of lectures on different research methods performed by senior colleagues. Besides the classes, we have been divided into several research streams, where I received precious comments and feedback on my research paper.

After collecting the feedback on my research and being inspired by the workshop vibes, I headed to the Riga Graduate School of Law in Riga, Latvia. This summer, I spent in Riga and dedicated my research time to exploring and learning about Latvia’s good governance on natural resource management. Even though Latvia is not a natural resource giant, it still heavily depends on fossils import. Thus, I concentrated my research on studying these legal tools and mechanisms based on the national laws of Latvia and the EU Law. The facilities provided by my Latvian colleagues (RGSL) contributed a lot to my research.

Library of RGSL, Riga Latvia

Experience to learn

Law of EU

During the research, several interviews have been conducted to be analyzed and reflected in the forthcoming paper. Moreover, the key findings have been applied through legal research methods (normative approach).

 From the beginning, the EU moved towards economic development and social prosperity, reflected in its applicable core treaties. The Treaty on European Union (hereafter TEU) states: “The Union shall work for the sustainable development of Europe based on balanced economic growth and price stability, a highly competitive social market economy, aiming at full employment and social progress, and a high level of protection and improvement of the quality of the environment.” In the commentaries to the TEU, the concept of ‘sustainable development has been identified as “intergenerational equity”, i.e., responsibility for future generations. The Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (hereafter TFEU), in its turn, reaffirms a need for an inclusive legal framework to enhance sustainability, especially in environmental and energy areas, since they are related not only to the economic aspect but also with social well-being and climate change issues. Article 191 says that the EU contributes to achieving the “preserving, protecting and improving the quality of the environment; protecting human health; prudent and rational utilization of natural resources and promoting measures at an international level to deal with regional or worldwide environmental problems, and in particular combating climate change.”

Moreover, Art. 194 states that the EU’s energy policy aims “to ensure the security of energy supply in the EU and to promote energy efficiency and energy saving and the development of new and renewable forms of energy”. As mentioned earlier in this paper, most of European energy companies operate in resource-rich countries outside of the EU. This fact shows that the EU should call undertakings listed in the EU to comply with the EU’s acquis on sustainable development. This, in turn, gives rise to the thought that there is always a big challenge to achieve sustainable development without strengthening good governance in the energy sector. To comply with the principle of transparency of good governance in the extractive industries, the EU developed new legal requirements to trace related information on certain types of businesses listed in the EU. In 2013, the EU came to a result with the Directive on disclosure of financial information, which has been amended with the Directive on disclosure of non-financial information by certain types of undertakings and groups. Implementing modified legal mechanisms to disclose financial and non-financial information of energy companies shows the EU’s support for improving good governance in the extractive industries sector.

After the adoption of Directive 2013/34/EU, all member states of the EU had an obligation to implement legal and administrative regulations necessary for compliance with the Directive within a specified period. According to the EU approach, “large undertakings and public-interest entities which are active in the extractive industry or logging of primary forests” should report on material payments made to governments in the hosting states on an annual basis. By undertakings, the EU means companies “listed in the EU with any activity involving the exploration, prospection, discovery, development, and extraction of minerals, oil, natural gas and logging in the EU or third country.” These particular types of undertakings are obliged to report on financial and non-financial information (discussed in detail below) to the governments on a “country-by-country” method.

Directive 2013/34/EU has defined “government” as any national, regional, or local authority of a Member State or a third country. Once again, the author wants to maintain that the EU legal framework on financial and non-financial disclosure of revenues coming from the extractive industries and logging is a comprehensive instrument to convert EITI’s volunteer regime to mandatory for countries that still do not join the EITI.

Latvia’s approach

Briefly, Latvia’s legislation on stretching good governance in the energy sector consists of several legal tools. Some of them will shortly be listed in this post. The first one is the Energy Law of Latvia, which states that the Minister of Economics is responsible for the energy industry  and, according to this Law, should perform the following functions: managing the development of draft laws and regulations for the implementation of the national energy policy, promoting the efficient and economical use of energy sources supplied to energy users, promoting the attraction of investments to the energy industry, and also to the renovation and construction of the facilities of energy supply merchants and others;

The second component to overview is the Electricity Market Law of Latvia. This Law aims to establish prerequisites for the operation of an efficiently functioning electricity market and to promote energy independence, ensuring different suppliers of energy resources necessary for electricity generation, which is directly connected to maintaining good governance in the energy sector. And the third element of relevant legislation of Latvia, which got my attention is the Law On Regulators of Public Utilities prescribes the general procedure for regulating public utilities and basic principles for the development and operation of the regulatory system.

A thoughtful analysis would conclude that substantial evidence highlights the importance of learning, analyzing, and sharing the experience of different topics among Central Asia and EU states. Thus, I want to thank the project team for creating these research opportunities to learn and share!

November 6, 2022

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Secondment: Conducting Research at Riga Graduate School of Law

Photo of Riga with many buildings

by Dildora Karimova, Lecturer in Law at Westminster International University in Tashkent

This year our secondment was conducted in Riga between July 1 and September 9, 2022 and Riga Graduate School of Law (RGSL) was our host.

RGSL welcomed us warmly. We were given a room in the University with all the equipment and speedy internet connection.

RGSL staff, Kriss Elerts, Ieva Racenaja, Krista Paula Petere, Waleed Gumaa  and others were very friendly and helpful in showing around and giving access to the facilities. We are very grateful for their assistance and constant support.

Research

RGSL Library was very resourceful and I could benefit not only from available hard copies but also from University’s subscriptions to various databases, such as Oxford University Press, HeinOnline, Lexis Nexis, etc. Thus, I could enhance my literature review and enrich my research with sources that I could not have accessed otherwise.

My research is centered around the introduction of additional mode of criminal liability as a tool for combatting corruption in Uzbekistan and being in Latvia, a country with Soviet background like Uzbekistan, allowed me to understand the difference in the society especially in terms of petit corruption.

I could vividly see that application of the same legal norms depends on the social codes and values so much, that even countries with common historical roots but different cultures can achieve distinct results. For example, when my older daughter (7 y.o.) got tonsillitis and we had to be admitted to the E.R. of the Children’s Hospital in Riga, I could witness, that people do not even think and it does not cross their minds to specially “thank” the doctor or doctors do not linger around patients after consulting them to imply any expectations of improper renumerations, nobody is trying to jump the line, despite a very long waiting time (up to 3 hours), and most of the paperwork is done openly by the nurses in the common hall. The whole atmosphere was filled with the feeling of confidence, equality and professionalism. This unfortunate incident, ironically, demonstrated how different is experience of medical services in Uzbekistan and in Latvia, countries with Soviet background, with and without of involvement of petit corruption.   

Since our secondment was during the summertime, I could not reach many professionals, however, I still hope to contact them online soon.

Lund

Our secondment started from visiting Lund, a small, cozy and a very green Swedish city to attend the workshops. The “Shadow Economy, Business Environment and Legal Culture in Central Asia” Project Workshop organized by the Lund University were quite informative and useful, especially for young researchers like myself. I believe, that gathering all the participants of the Project in one place was an amazing idea in terms of networking, exchanging opinions and gaining confidence in the fact that we are altogether in this Project despite living thousands of kilometers apart.

Picture 2 Welcoming card and stuffed animals from the Lund University Guesthouse

Our sessions were delivered by very experienced researchers and personally for me it was an eye opener, since pure legal research is quite limited in methods and conservative. I have learned not only, how to use new research methods, but also how to overcome various barriers and obstacles that might arise while gathering information. Our lecturers provided numerous examples from their own experience of how certain research methods can dramatically influence the quality of the work. These sessions filled me  with confidence and  inspired me with new ideas regarding my research. I am very thankful to our lecturers Dr. Erhan Dogan, Dr. Meltem Sancak, Dr. Peter Finke, Dr. Werner Hertzog, Dilaver Khamzaev for their useful insights.

We had a chance to communicate not only during the research methods sessions, but also experience Swedish Fika altogether; breakfasts, coffee-breaks, lunches and dinners together contributed not only in gained kilograms but also in building new networks and friendships with colleagues from around the Europe and Asia.

We returned to Riga inspired to research and full of creative ideas.

Using this opportunity, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the Lund University team: Rustamjon aka Urinboev, Chekhros Kilichova, Dilaver Khamzaev, Sherzod aka Eraliev, and Elmurod Sobirov for the perfectly organized workshops and Fikas 🙂 .

Happy Research to my colleagues from all over Asia and Europe!

October 9, 2022

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INHERITANCE: AN INDISPENSABLE PRINCIPLE OF INCREASING OF THE COUNTRY’S RESEARCH CAPACITY

Background picture titled Renaissance with major figures from science from Central Asia in middle ages

by Dilaver Khamzaev, guest researcher at Lund University

The first thing that caught my attention during my time in Lund as a guest researcher was the harmonious coexistence of the historical heritage and the achievements of modern science. Lund gives you the opportunity to comfortably immerse yourself in the atmosphere of medieval Europe, having access to all the amenities of a modern metropolis. The appearance of the city is an example of heredity. Heirs, carefully preserving the heritage of their ancestors, enrich and improve the way of life of society based on existing achievements. This is expressed in a combination of historical appearance and modern filling.

Here, every corner, stone and building have its deep history. At the same time, they retain full functionality to ensure a comfortable life for residents of one of the most economically prosperous countries in the world. Observing this, I had one logical question: – Why are economically developed countries so ahead of countries of other categories (newly emerging economies (emerging) and low-income countries (developing)), having, in some cases, a smaller historical heritage and knowledge base?

Being at Lund University, in the process of finding the answer to the question posed, the researcher feels the difference of working with a rich archive of scientific literature. The existing library makes it possible to find and study the works of authors from different eras and regions. The library serves as a “time capsule” of the results of the intellectual activity of society. Here, I did not have the problem of finding the necessary literature. On the contrary, I was busy systematizing and structuring a large amount of information.

As a result, it turned out that there are many studies aimed at studying the influence of corruption, political system, geographical location and other factors on the development of the concept of a free market to ensure the economic well-being of the country. However, historical events are the main reason for the differences in the economic well-being of countries (Reinert, 2007). One such event is the Renaissance in Eastern Europe, which began because of a “radical change in the European worldview regarding empiricism, science, and technology” (Sachs, 2020). This scientific shift contributed to the beginning of the era of industrialization and the subsequent colonization of the rest of the globe, which did not have a sufficient level of development, both economically and technologically, to maintain its sovereignty.

The relationship between the innovative potential of the “pool of knowledge workers” and the efficiency of the national economy (Jackson, 2003) prompted developed countries to pay great attention to “the PhD’s contribution to national economic performance.” (Lovitts, 2005). Indeed, the history of industrialization shows that business actors need quality and innovative solutions to a problem to become competitive in a market economy. In this regard, modern society has begun to consider science as a “source of wealth” and a “source of solutions to survival problems” (Glaser et al., 2022).

In my understanding, it was the presence of an inherited special approach to the organization of research activities, the formation of a scientifically based approach to the implementation of research, as well as the necessary material contribution to the development of scientific activity and the protection of the results of intellectual activity that allowed developed countries to get ahead of countries that are now called countries with economies in transition or developing countries. states.

In this regard, within the framework of the project “CENTRASIA: Central Asian law and legal culture”, I decided to conduct a study aimed at studying the differences in approaches to the organization of research activities between specific educational institutions in Uzbekistan and Sweden.

The relevance of the implementation of this study within the framework of the Central Asian Law project is due to the need to:

  • to understand the capacity of the national researchers to feed the national and international business actors with reliable and quality intelligence information;
  • to indicate what aspects of the knowledge/intelligence creation process need to be transferred to the Uzbek scientific community to first fulfil the point.

The study was organized based on a model of “critical transition” to independent research activities within two phases:

  • dependent phase – the learning process of the student where he/she will get familiar with what others know; and
  • the knowledge-creating phase – when a student develops independence to conduct academic activities (Lovitts, 2005).

The study of existing differences in research activities was based on ethnographic observation in Sweden from March 2022 to July 2022, as well as the analysis of secondary data, including publications of representatives of the academic circles of Uzbekistan, as well as legal acts regulating scientific activities in Uzbekistan. The main methods of data collection during the field research were observation, in-depth interviews and informal interviews. The observation includes my direct experience in defending a dissertation in Uzbekistan. In addition, informal interactions with PhD students and candidates contributed to the understanding of the research process at the Swedish University. Personal participation in the process of defending the thesis of PhD candidates during the internship made it possible to build a complete picture of the learning process in the doctoral program of the Swedish University from admission to the final defense of research work.

The analysis of the collected empirical data within the framework of this study shows the importance of having a preparatory stage and organizing this process on a systematic basis to ensure the academic independence of the researcher in the second phase. In particular, the following factors were identified as reasons affecting the quality of the organization of research activities in the studied object of study:

  • lack of proper preparation in the first phase;
  • insufficient financial support for research activities;
  • the presence of bureaucratic requirements for the publication of a large number of articles.

The relevance of the project “Central Asian law: legal culture and business environment” lies in the fact that this project will allow us to study the practice of organizing the preparatory process of the leading educational institutions in Europe and implement it in the activities of the project participants. The joint creation of various programs and training courses in the first phase of the transition to independent research activities will significantly improve the quality of the results of the research activities of the project participants.

REFERENCES

Glaser, J., Ash, M., Buenstorf, G., Hopf, D., Hubenschmid, L., Janßen, M., Laudel, G., Schimank, U., Stoll, M., Wilholt, T., Zechlin, L., & Lieb, K. (2022). The Independence of Research—A Review of Disciplinary Perspectives and Outline of Interdisciplinary Prospects. Minerva, 60. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11024-021-09451-8

Jackson, S. A. (2003). The Quiet Crisis: Falling Short in Producing American Scientific and Technical Talent. Best.

Lovitts, B. (2005). Being a good course-taker is not enough: A theoretical perspective on the transition to independent research. Studies in Higher Education – STUD HIGH EDUC, 30, 137–154. https://doi.org/10.1080/03075070500043093

Reinert, E. S. (2007). How rich countries got rich and why poor countries stay poor. Constable.

Sachs, J. D. (2020). The Ages of Globalization: Geography, Technology, and Institutions. Columbia University Press. https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7312/sach19374

September 29, 2022

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