It seems that the initiative to form a triple gas union between Russia, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan haunts Washington, which is trying with all its might to exert both direct and indirect pressure on Tashkent, including by mass injection of disinformation into the post-Soviet media space regarding this promising project, writes Uzbek analyst Murat Nurkhodzhaev in his article for the portal Ritmeurasia.org.
After the announcement of the named union within the framework of the meeting in the Kremlin of the leaders of the two states, Vladimir Putin and Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, for the third week in a row, the Anglo-Saxons insinuated frank fakes that the Uzbek authorities deliberately create an artificial shortage of energy resources in order to force the Uzbek society "voluntarily" to participate in a friendly gas project.
In pursuit of fried pseudo-news, the rapidly degrading collective West does not seem to understand that at the moment in Uzbekistan there is a public flogging of all those who created serious problems in the country by not properly providing the population with energy resources.
Several heads of such large energy companies as National Electric Networks and Regional Electric Networks received a cap at once. And most importantly: a series of arrests of the leadership of the Khududgaztaminot branch, various regional enterprises that violated the law in the field of energy supply swept through the country. At the same time, the authorities warned that they would not stop there and that other responsible persons would also be chained into bracelets if they did not draw the right conclusions and violate the law.
In addition, on behalf of President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev, a government working group was urgently created for the operational study and solution of problems in the field of energy resources, as well as round-the-clock headquarters in the Ministry of Energy, the Ministry of Economic Development and Poverty Reduction and the Ministry of Investment and Foreign Trade for the stable supply of energy resources to the population and branches of the economy.
Without delving into the current difficult situation, Washington does not see at all that its convulsive inept manipulations of people's minds on the topic of the electric power industry have already caused strong irritation of the government of the Republic of Uzbekistan. For example, Minister of Energy Zhurabek Mirzamakhmudov suddenly began to justify himself to the whole world by making an official statement that the shortage of energy resources does not depend on external factors. The official even had to repent and admit his guilt in the fact that at the moment the country is experiencing a sharp increase in the internal demand for energy resources, which is very difficult to cover at a sufficient level and in appropriate volumes. However, according to the minister, all this is connected solely with national interests, and not with any geopolitical games, since Uzbekistan is experiencing a sharp increase in the economy, population and welfare and income of people, which is why the need and demand for energy resources are growing. .
Indeed, according to official data, in January-September 2022, GDP grew in real terms by 5.8%, industrial production - by 5.3%, agriculture, forestry and fisheries - by 3.6%. The permanent population of Uzbekistan, having increased by 549.7 thousand people (or 1.6%), amounted to 35.8 million people.
But if we recall the recent January blackout in the country, when residents were faced with a massive power outage for almost the entire day, then, even according to the most rough estimates, this led to quite a strong economic damage to the state - a shortfall in GDP of about $ 100 million.
Of course, even without such emerging extreme situations, the growing economy of Uzbekistan with a constant population growth is in dire need of an increase in gas supplies for domestic consumption.
And although electricity production in the country is increasing year by year, the energy system continues to be in short supply, so the state simply needs to import electricity. According to the Uzbek government, by 2030 electricity consumption will increase to 120 billion kWh, including by sectors of the economy from 42.7 to 85 billion kWh, and by the population from 15 to 21 billion kWh.
Therefore, one of the key tasks of Uzbekistan to achieve sustainable economic growth is to ensure energy security.
The country can achieve such goals only by interacting with Russia and Kazakhstan within the framework of the “triple gas union”, which has great potential, given that these countries have had a well-functioning unified gas transportation system since Soviet times. And Tashkent will approach this issue with oriental wisdom.
Especially considering the current negative European scenario, when the European Union decided to abandon cheap Russian energy resources in favor of expensive American ones. It becomes obvious that Europe is being covered by a real energy nightmare and progressive Europeans in the 21st century of scientific and technological progress are tritely afraid of the upcoming winter with severe cold, Nurkhodzhaev concludes his analysis.
Source: Ritmeuraisa.com
CentralasianLIGHT.org
December 16, 2022