About Uzbekistan

A view from Brussels: Uzbekistan is a country of unlimited tourism opportunities
28 June 2024
A view from Brussels: Uzbekistan is a country of unlimited tourism opportunities

Uzbek diplomats in Brussels organized a press tour to Uzbekistan for leading bloggers and media representatives from the Benelux countries.

The editor-in-chief of the “World in Pieces” program of the mass media company “Francophone Belgian Radio and Television” (RTBF), Francois Masur, who took part in the press tour, published a series of photographs and video material on social platforms.

RTBF is a member of the European Broadcasting Union and a shareholder of the news channel Euronews (0.60%), other world famous channels such as TV5 Monde (11.1%), RMB (100%), Casa Kafka Pictures (100% ), Sonuma (40%) and Dreamwall (22%). The headquarters of RTBF is located in the city of Brussels. There are also regional offices in Charleroi, Liege, Mons, Namur and Libramont.

RTBF is part of various international organizations: French-language public radio stations, the French-language television community, the International Council of French-language Radio and Television (CIRTEF), the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), of which it is one of the founders.

After publishing stories about Uzbekistan on social platforms, Francois Mazur has already received a request from a MICE agency to organize a group trip to Uzbekistan and several requests for information for organizing private trips to Uzbekistan, including with families. According to him, “after this trip, there will be many more Belgians traveling to Uzbekistan. He described Uzbekistan as a country of unlimited possibilities, it is as amazing as a diamond in the rough, recommending the audience to visit Uzbekistan for its fabulous historical sites.

More news about Uzbekistan
Uzbekistan resumes international land transport: High-speed train Tashkent-Almaty-Tashkent

Uzbekistan starts resuming international land transport after the pandemic.

27 March 2022
“Uzbekistan - Turquoise Steppe” documentary screening held in Brussels

The official launch of the project on the screening of the documentary “Uzbekistan - Turquoise Steppe” (“Ouzbèkistan - la turquoise des steppes”) by the famous French director Gilles Uber took place in 19 cultural centers of Belgium and Luxembourg.

12 March 2020
Uzbekistan to host the Second International Handicrafters Festival in Kokand

The First International Festival of Handicrafters in Kokand was held during 10-15 September 2019 by the initiative of the H.E. Shavkat Mirziyoyev, the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan. 

13 July 2021
Did you know?

Uzbekistan is one of only two countries in the world to be ‘double landlocked’ (landlocked and totally surrounded by other landlocked countries). Liechtenstein is double landlocked by 2 countries whilst Uzbekistan is surrounded by 5!

Did you know that Uzbekistan lies in the very heart of Eurasia, the coordinates for Uzbekistan are 41.0000° N, 69.0000°

Uzbekistan is home to the Muruntan gold mine, one of the largest open pit gold mines in the world! The country has 4th largest reserves of gold in the world after South Africa, USA and Russia

Uzbekistan is the world capital of melons. They have in excess of 150 different varieties, which form a staple part of the local diet, served fresh in the summer and eaten dried through the winter.

It is Uzbek tradition that the most respected guest be seated farthest from the house’s entrance.

Tashkent’s metro features chandeliers, marble pillars and ceilings, granite, and engraved metal. It has been called one of the most beautiful train stations in the world.

The Uzbek master chef is able to cook in just one caldron enough plov to serve a thousand men.

When you are a host to someone, it is your duty to fill their cups with for the whole time they are with you.  What you must not do, however, is to fill their cup more than half-full.  If you do that as a mistake, say it is a mistake immediately.  Doing it means you want them to leave.  Wow!  Amazing, right?

To Uzbeks, respect means a whole lot.  For this reason they love it if, even as foreigners, you endeavour to add the respectful suffix opa after a woman's name; and aka after a man's.  Example: Linda-opa and David-aka.  You could also use hon and jon respectively.

Having been an historic crossroads for centuries as part of various ancient empires, Uzbekistan’s food is very eclectic. It has its roots in Iranian, Arab, Indian, Russian and Chinese cuisine.

Though identified with the Persia, the Zoroastrism probably originated in Bactria or Sogdiana. Many distinguished scholars share an opinion that Zoroastrianism had originated in the ancient Khorezm. Indeed, today in the world there were found 63 Zoroastrian monuments, including those in Iran, India, Afghanistan and Pakistan. Thirty-eight of them are in Uzbekistan, whereas 17 of these monuments are located in Khorezm.

One of Islam's most sacred relics - the world's oldest Koran that was compiled in Medina by Othman, the third caliph or Muslim leader, is kept in Tashkent. It was completed in the year 651, only 19 years after Muhammad's death. 

Tashkent is the only megapolis in the world where public transport is totally comprised of Mercedes buses. And due to low urban air polution it is one of the few cities where one can still see the stars in the sky.

You would be surprised to know that modern TV was born in Tashkent. No joke! The picture of moving objects was transmitted by radio first time in the world in Tashkent on 26 of July 1928 by inventors B.P. Grabovsky and I.F. Belansky.

Uzbekistan is the only country in the world all of whose neighbours have their names ending in STAN. This is also the only country in Central Asia that borders all of the countries of this region

Uzbeks are the third populous Turkik ethnicity in the world after Turks and Azeris (leaving both in Azerbaijan and Iran)

Did you know that there was silk money in Khiva? Super interesting right? Of course, but the best part of having silk money was that it could be sewn into your clothing.

Famous Islamic physician Ibn Sina (Avicenna in the Latin world) who was born near Bukhara was the one of the first people to advocate using women’s hair as suture material – about 1400 years ago.

Uzbekistan has a long and bloody history. The most notorious leader of Uzbekistan was Timur (or Tamerlane) who claimed descent from Genghis Khan. His military campaigns have been credited for wiping out some 5% of the world’s population at the time.

If you have thought that some of the Islamic architecture in Uzbekistan resembles that from Northern India, then that is because Timur’s great great great Grandson, Babur Beg, was the founder of the Moghul Empire that ruled much of India for almost four centuries! Babur’s great great Grandson was Shah Jahan, who built the Taj Mahal.

Uzbekistan was once a rum producig country. There is still a real arboretum in Denau (city near Termez on the border with Afghanistan), grown from a selection station that studied the prospects of plant growing in the unusual for the Soviet Union subtropical climate of Surkhandarya region: only here in the whole of the USSR sugar cane was grown and even rum was produced!

Uzbekistan has been ranked one of the safest countries in the world, according to a new global poll. The annual Gallup Global Law and Order asked if people felt safe walking at night and whether they had been victims of crime. The survey placed Uzbekistan 5th out of 135 countries, while the UK was 21st and the US 35th. Top five safest countries:

  • Singapore
  • Norway
  • Iceland
  • Finland
  • Uzbekistan
Exchange rates
100 RUR
13101.08 UZS
100 USD
1278008.79 UZS
100 EUR
1390582.42 UZS
100 GBP
1643008.74 UZS
Weather in cities
Tashkent
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Samarkand
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