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Abstract

Corporate governance reforms have become a central element in the transformation of state-owned enterprises (SOEs), particularly in transition and emerging economies seeking to enhance efficiency, transparency, and competitiveness. In recent years, Uzbekistan has initiated comprehensive economic reforms aimed at restructuring its SOE sector, improving state asset management, and aligning governance practices with international standards. This paper examines the role of corporate governance reforms in the transformation of SOEs in Uzbekistan, with a focus on achieved outcomes, existing challenges, and emerging development trends. The research is based on a qualitative and comparative analysis of corporate governance reforms implemented in Uzbekistan’s SOE sector. The study draws on national legal and regulatory frameworks, including relevant laws, presidential decrees, and policy documents governing state asset management and corporate governance. In addition, secondary sources such as analytical reports of international organizations (including the World Bank and OECD), as well as publicly available company-level data, are used to assess reform outcomes. The paper also applies institutional and trend analysis to identify key patterns and trajectories in the ongoing transformation process. The paper argues that corporate governance reforms have played a significant role in advancing the transformation of SOEs in Uzbekistan by introducing modern governance mechanisms, strengthening accountability, and promoting performance-oriented management. The findings demonstrate that notable progress has been achieved, particularly in enhancing the role of supervisory boards, improving transparency and disclosure practices, and initiating privatization processes. However, several institutional and operational challenges persist, including limited board independence, gaps in the practical implementation of international governance standards, and inconsistencies across sectors. Furthermore, the study identifies emerging development trends, such as the growing integration of ESG principles, digitalization of state asset management systems, and a gradual shift toward market-based governance models. The relevance of this study lies in its contribution to the broader literature on corporate governance and SOE reform in transition economies. By providing empirical and institutional insights from Uzbekistan, the paper enhances understanding of how governance reforms can support enterprise transformation in emerging markets. The findings also offer policy-relevant recommendations for strengthening governance frameworks and ensuring the sustainable and competitive development of SOEs in line with international best practices.

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This paper critically examines how the marginalization of the History of Economic Thought (HET) and pluralist economics in post-Soviet Central Asia university programs has reinforced neoliberal orthodoxy and constrained intellectual diversity in economics education. It explores the reproduction of neoliberal orthodoxy within economics education, where HET has been almost entirely excised from university curricula. Across Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and the wider region, economics departments largely replicate orthodox (mainstream) economics based on the neoclassical doctrine. These curricula reinforce a depoliticized, market-centered worldview that normalizes the structures of neoliberal capitalism and legitimizes existing hierarchies of knowledge, power, and re/distribution. As a result, students are trained to view economic processes as technical, ahistorical, and apolitical, rather than historically contingent and socially embedded. Drawing on my teaching experience at the International School of Economics at Maqsut Narikbayev University (Kazakhstan) and the OSCE Academy in Bishkek (Kyrgyzstan) at the post-graduate level, this paper argues for the reintroduction of HET and heterodox traditions as tools of intellectual emancipation and epistemic pluralism. I explore how teaching rooted in critical realism (Tony Lawson) and open-systems ontology and heterodoxy (Andrew Mearman) enables students to interrogate the limits of mainstream (neoclassical) theory and to link abstract models to real-world context. Modules based on a historical approach engage students with classical and contemporary debates on development, value, money, finance, austerity, free trade, competitiveness and the ‘independent’ central bank concepts and provide an overview of the plurality of majour economic ideas. The paper situates this pedagogical practice within broader debates on knowledge construction under neoliberalism, highlighting how the recovery of heterodox approaches, namely Marxian, institutionalist, post-Keynesian, and developmental, can democratize economic education. I explore the pedagogical challenges of re/introducing HET and heterodox traditions in institutional settings where neoclassical paradigms remain hegemonic. By embedding theoretical learning within the lived realities of post-socialist transformation, students begin to see economics not as a fixed science, but as a contested social field shaped by power, various ideologies, and historical change. Through classroom reflection and curriculum design, I demonstrate how HET not only enriches student understanding, but also fosters critical thinking, pluralism, and intellectual agency in the region grappling with policy orthodoxy and intellectual dependency. Ultimately, the paper argues that teaching HET in post-Soviet contexts is not merely an academic exercise, but an act of reclaiming intellectual sovereignty and fostering a new generation of critical, context-aware economists and intellectuals capable of envisioning alternative development futures.

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This study assesses Uzbekistan’s renewable energy targets, resource potential, and deployment capacity to evaluate prospects for closing persistent electricity shortages and supporting the country’s green economy transition. Uzbekistan, the most populous Central Asian state, faces limited non renewable reserves and seasonal power deficits that disrupt homes, hospitals, and businesses. Renewables, particularly solar, wind, and hydropower offer cost effective, low carbon pathways to enhance supply reliability and reduce dependence on fossil fuels, while creating jobs and stimulating local industry. The study examines how supply side measures and coordinated investment can help Uzbekistan’s renewable energy resources cost effectively reduce seasonal electricity shortages and improve reliability.

We conduct a three stage framework analyses: (1) Target analysis, reviewing national and international commitments and policy goals for renewable deployment; (2) Potential analysis, comparing solar, wind, and hydro resource endowments; and (3) Capacity analysis, documenting existing installed capacity, recent project pipelines, and grid integration constraints. Material includes datasets and visualizations drawn from IRENA, the IEA, the World Bank, and official national and multilateral sources, combined with recent project reports and policy statements to ground the findings in current practice.

Uzbekistan has strong solar potential, selective wind resources, and seasonally variable hydropower, each requiring specific integration. Small scale solar can quickly expand rural access, while large projects and storage are essential for stable urban supply. Key barriers include grid limits, financing gaps, weak regulation, and institutional constraints, alongside social and environmental factors such as land, water, and community engagement. Yet policy reforms, investment in transmission and storage, international financing, and stronger public private partnerships with clear permitting can accelerate deployment and reduce blackouts.

The paper offers prioritized policy recommendations to align national targets with feasible investment pathways and grid upgrades, including pilot programs, tariff reforms, and capacity building for regulators. We also highlight the need for further research on cost optimal project sequencing, resilience to climate variability, and socio environmental impacts to ensure an equitable transition. By connecting technical analysis with practical policy steps, our findings aim to inform policymakers, investors, local communities, and researchers working to advance Uzbekistan’s renewable energy transition and improve everyday energy security.

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The purpose of the study is to review the state policies of the EAEU countries aimed at improving the financial literacy of the population in order to identify the prerequisites for creating unified approaches to the implementation of state policies in the field of improving financial literacy.

Methodology. The research methods used were content analysis aimed at studying state policy in the field of financial literacy. A systemic and comparative analysis of documents and legislative acts in the field of state policy to improve the financial literacy of the country's population was used.

Originality / value of the study. In 2025, it is planned to complete the process of creating a single financial market of the EAEU. The creation of a single market for financial services entails the need to ensure not only equal access for EAEU members, but also the protection of the rights of consumers of financial services and their adaptation to the new rules. The convergence of financial policies and the creation of a single financial market of the EAEU countries, the expansion of the range of financial services, the use of new technologies, the growth of financial fraudulent transactions necessitate the protection of the interests of consumers. To solve these problems, it is necessary not only to use the experience of the EAEU countries in improving the financial literacy of the population, but also to strengthen cooperation and coordination of information exchange at the intercountry level. In this regard, a review of financial literacy policies in the EAEU countries was conducted. General trends were identified and the prerequisites for creating unified approaches to the implementation of state policies to improve financial literacy were considered. A comparative analysis of state policies in the EAEU countries has not been extensively analyzed, which makes this study relevant.

Research results. Based on the results of the study, the authors analyzed state policies in the field of financial literacy of the population of the EAEU countries, conducted a comparative analysis of the models for managing financial literacy programs in the EAEU countries, and identified the advantages and disadvantages of each model. A comparison of the indicators of the level of financial literacy in the EAEU countries was carried out, and the prerequisites for creating unified approaches to the implementation of state policies in the EAEU countries were considered.

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The EU Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) is designed to prevent carbon leakage, yet its effects may extend beyond the relationship between the European Union and its trading partners. In Central Asia the CBAM may create a new regulatory context, in which reduction of greenhouse gas emissions (GHG emissions) depends not only on state climate policies, but also on strategic decisions made by companies. These decisions include whether companies invest in carbon accounting, disclosure, risk management and decarbonization, or whether they redirect trade, production or investment flows toward less regulated markets.

This paper examines the CBAM through the lens of regulatory asymmetry in Central Asia. It argues that differences in climate regulation, emissions monitoring and corporate disclosure may create uneven incentives for companies operating under new carbon-related market access requirements. The paper focuses on Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan as two Central Asian economies where climate regulation, corporate reporting and responses to external carbon requirements are developing under different institutional conditions. The analysis combines regulatory mapping with a review of publicly available corporate reports to assess how companies disclose emissions, climate-related risks and adaptation strategies. The paper does not claim to establish actual carbon leakage. Rather, it examines the conditions under which the CBAM may generate regional spillover risks by influencing corporate choices between compliance, decarbonization and market redirection. By linking the CBAM with corporate governance and decision-making at the company level, the paper contributes to the debates on sustainable development in Central Asia and highlights the role of companies in shaping low-carbon transition outcomes.