Sandwiched between Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan, the former Soviet Bloc country of Uzbekistan is one of the lesser-known economies situated in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). Boasting a much larger population than its neighbouring countries at 28 million people, however, Uzbekistan is thought to have great economic potential, especially in terms of commodity wealth: it is already a world top 10 producer of gold and uranium, while gas and oil are also major exports.
The government of president Islam Karimov, who has ruled the country with an iron and often bloody fist since it first gained independence in 1991, has spent the past 20 years cautiously unpicking Uzbekistan's state-controlled command economy through a process of gradualist privatisation and industrialisation.