Uzbekistan cities

Geography

Namangan is about 300 km east of Tashkent, about 65 km west of Andijan, and about 75 km north of Fergana. It is located at 40.98°N 71.58°E 1561 feet (476 meters) above sea level. The Qoradaryo and Naryn Rivers join together to form the Syr Darya just outside the southern edge of the city.

History

Namangan was originally a settlement of the native turkish[citation needed] population of Central-Asia[citation needed]. After the destructive earthquake in Akhsikanth city, the population of the city moved to Namangan.

Namangan was known to have been a settlement in the 15th century and a part of the Khanate of Kokand by the middle of the 18th century. It takes its name from the local salt mines (in Persian: نمک‌کان namak kan)[citation needed]. At the time of the Russian occupation, Namangan was a center of Islamic learning, with 20 madrassahs and over 600 mosques[citation needed]. After annexation by the Russians in 1876, cotton production and food processing became the dominant economic activity. Namangan suffered a destructive earthquake in 1926. The primary language of the people of the Namangan region is Uzbek; Tajik is spoken partially in Chust and Kasan-sai districts.

Since Uzbekistan independence in 1991, Namangan has gained a reputation for Islamic awakening, with many mosques and schools funded by charity organizations from Middle Eastern countries, including, conservative Wahabi sect from Saudi Arabia.[citation needed] This has also translated into political opposition against the secular government of Uzbekistan.[citation needed] Some women have discarded traditional colorful scarves for large white veils or even the black paranja.[citation needed]

Navoiy
Navoiy also spelled as Navoi (Uzbek: Navoiy / Навоий; Russian: Навои) is a city (pop 125,800 in 2007) and the capital of Navoiy Province in the southwestern part of Uzbekistan. It is located at latitude 40° 5' 4N; longitude 65° 22' 45E, at an altitude of 382 meters.
History

Originally known as Kermine ("Karmana") under the Emirate of Bukhara, the city was re-founded in 1958, under the name of the great Uzbek poet and statesman Alisher Navoi, who wrote in Persian and Chaghatai at the court of Emir Husein Boykara (or Husayn Bayqaro) in Herat.

Economy

Navoiy Region has large stocks of natural gas and deposits of precious metals, as well as large stocks of raw materials for production of construction materials. Among these enterprises are Navoi and Zarafshan Gold Mining and Metallurgical Complexes, which extract one of the purest gold in the world. The enterprise NavoiyAzot is the largest producer of mineral fertilizers in the country.

Navoiy Free Industrial Economic Zone (FIEZ)

According to the Decree of the President of Uzbekistan, Free Industrial Economic Zone (FIEZ) with special conditions for foreign investments have already created in Navoi Province of Uzbekistan, in the area of Navoiy

Airport.

FIEZ is designed to promote a wide range of high-tech and internationally competitive production using modern high-efficiency equipment, technological lines and units, as well as latest innovations. The operation period of FIEZ is 30 years with possible prolongation.

Business entities registered in FIEZ will enjoy exceptional customs, currency and tax regulations, simplified procedure for entry, stay and obtaining of work permit for non-resident citizens. They shall be exempt from paying land, property, income, development of social infrastructure, single payment (for small businesses) taxes, mandatory payments to Republic’s Road Fund and Fund of School Education, depending on the amount of direct investments: from 3 to 10 million euros - for 7 years; from 10 to 30 million euros - for 10 years, with reduction of profit and unified tax payment rates by 50% in the next 5 years; more than 30 million euros - for 15 years, with reduction of profit and unified tax payment rates by 50% in the next 10 years. Along with this, business entities will be exempted from paying customs duties (excluding charges for customs clearance) for equipment, raw materials and components imported for the production of export oriented goods. They will be able to make payments in foreign currency within the FIEZ, as well as to use convenient terms of payments for exported and imported goods.

Coordination and management of FIEZ activity will be carried out by Administrative Council composed of representatives of state bodies and zone administration. The Council can select international company to manage the zone on a contract basis. It is envisaged to create a FIEZ development fund aimed to support infrastructure development.

Navoi province is located in the central part of Uzbekistan, being one of the largest industrial centres of the country. The province possesses rich minerals and raw materials resources – Muruntau gold-bearing field, silica sand fields (of more than 1.5 billion tons), deposits of granite (1.9 billion cubic meters), marble

(420 million cubic meters), phosphorites (1.5 billion tons) and many others.

Navoi Mining and Metallurgy Combinat – the biggest enterprise of the province, is included in top ten largest world producers of uranium and gold (9999 standard). Gold bars produced by the Combinat are awarded with the status of “optimal gold delivery” by London Precious Metals Market and Tokyo Commodities Exchange. Along with mining, the province’s economy is based on production of building materials, chemical, textile and food industries.
40 foreign investment enterprises operate in Navoi province. Most of them are established with participation of investors from USA, China, Russia and the United Kingdom – Uzbek-British Joint Venture “Amantaytau-Goldfields” is successfully working in the province.

Transportation

The Zone will be located at a distance of 800 meters from the highway E-40, 1,8 km from the cargo terminal of Navoiy Airport, connected to international railway routes towards countries of Europe (via Russia), South Asia (via China), Middle East and the Gulf (via Iran). The distance to the nearest water and gas distribution centres is 800 m, electrical station - 8 km. In August 2010, Hanjin Group (the parent of Korean Air) opened a new cargo terminal at Navoiy Airport
Nukus
History

Nukus developed from a small settlement in 1932 into a pleasant, modern Soviet city with broad avenues and big public buildings; however, the city's isolation made it host to the Red Army's Chemical Research Institute, a major research and testing center for chemical warfare weapons.

Environmental concerns

With the fall of the Soviet Union and the growing environmental disaster of the Aral Sea, the city's situation has deteriorated. Contamination of the surrounding area by wind-borne salt and pesticides from the dry Aral Sea bed have turned the surrounding area into a wasteland, with very high rates of respiratory disorders, cancer, birth defects and deformities.

Sights

The panoramic view of Nukus

Nukus is host to the Nukus Museum of Art (also known as the State Art Museum of the Republic of Karakalpakstan, named after Igor V. Savitsky) and State Museum. The State Museum houses the usual collection of artifacts recovered from archaeological investigations, traditional jewelry, costumes and musical instruments, but more interestingly, displays of the area's now vanished or endangered flora and fauna, and on the Aral Sea issue. The Art Museum is noted for its collection of modern Russian and Uzbek art from 1918-1935. Stalin tried his best to eliminate all non Soviet art from this period, and sent most of the artists to the gulag. Both Savitsky himself and the collection at Nukus survived because of the city's remoteness.

Nukus is also home to the Progress Center, Central Asia's finest English-language institute. Housed in a former Komsomol meeting hall, the institute has received major funding from.

Samarkand