Perfect posture, white smile, smooth face paired with thick grey or shiny black hair: from Turkmenistan to Uzbekistan or Kazakhstan, heads of state always appear in perfect shape and full of vitality in official images. Some even use Photoshop to add a few centimetres so as not to look out of place next to Donald Trump's stature.
As part of a five-year plan to increase the country's ‘food security’, the Uzbek government has issued new regulations requiring citizens and businesses to take ambitious steps to reduce the enormous accumulation of food waste. But as everywhere in Central Asia, the effective implementation of this “revolution” imposed from above remains to be seen.
President Emomali Rakhmon recently awarded his daughter Ozoda the honorary title of ‘Exemplary Worker of Tajikistan’. This is yet another example of the habit of Central Asian satraps to generously bestow high honours, medals and awards of all kinds on members of their own families.
This year, China became Tajikistan's main trading partner for the first time, with a balance exceeding billion. At the recent SCO summit held in Tianjin, there was also talk of establishing a centre for combating drug trafficking in Dushanbe, and bilateral agreements were signed on the digital economy, renewable energy and transport.
The case of a 15-year-old boy who died in Tajikistan as a result of “exemplary corporal punishment” inflicted by his father has reignited the spotlight on the issue of domestic violence. According to some data, 60% of children under the age of 14 in the country are victims of domestic violence. And despite the prohibitions introduced by law, the problem is exacerbated today by ‘demonstration videos’ sent to relatives or uploaded to social networks in search of social approval.
Of the five countries, only Turkmenistan is not a member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), in keeping with its traditional international neutrality, but President Serdar Berdymukhamedov was nevertheless present at the parade in Beijing. Trade between the region and China grew by 5% last year and will soon exceed 0 billion. Russia is now forced to play a secondary role.
