🇺🇿 Uzbekistan

Uzbekistan is Central Asia's most populous country — 36 million people with a GDP of about $80 billion. The Silk Road cities of Samarkand, Bukhara, and Khiva have some of the most stunning Islamic architecture in the world — turquoise-tiled madrasas and minarets that rival anything in Iran or Turkey. President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, who took power in 2016, has implemented significant economic reforms, opening the country to foreign investment and tourism after decades of isolation under Islam Karimov. Uzbekistan is the world's sixth-largest cotton producer and a major gold producer. The country is double-landlocked — you have to cross at least two borders to reach the sea.

Gold (Uzbekistan is the world's ninth-largest producer), cotton, natural gas, copper, and textiles are the main exports. Russia, China, and Turkey are the top trade partners. The som was devalued by about 50% in 2017 as part of reforms to unify the official and black market exchange rates. GDP growth has been strong at 5-7%. The government has ended the forced labor system in cotton harvesting that drew international condemnation for decades. Remittances from workers in Russia contribute about 10% of GDP.

Uzbekistan's Registan Square in Samarkand — three massive madrasas facing each other — is considered one of the most beautiful public squares in the world. The country's Aral Sea disaster (shared with Kazakhstan) is one of the worst environmental catastrophes in history — the sea has shrunk to about 10% of its original size. Uzbekistan's Chimgan Mountains have a growing ski tourism industry that few outsiders know about.

Uzbekistan's reform trajectory under Mirziyoyev is the most promising in Central Asia. The Silk Road tourism potential is enormous, and the economic opening is attracting real investment. The question is whether political reform will follow economic reform.