ABSTRACT
The end of Soviet rule in Uzbekistan has left a dual legacy. Uzbekistan possesses more resources than some of its neighbors that it can utilize in dealing with the problems. But effective national development will require concerted political will to ensure that these resources are in fact used to benefit all segments of society in the new country. The new borders of Uzbekistan ultimately not only created a new kind of Uzbek identity, but by deliberately cutting across existing ethnic and linguistic lines in the region, they served to sow tension and strife among the different Central Asian groups. The most fertile part of Uzbekistan is the Fergana Valley, an area of roughly 20,000 square kilometers lying between two high mountain ranges. The exceedingly arid climate and general scarcity of water in Uzbekistan would be constraints to development anywhere in the world. Uzbekistan is exceedingly rich in a wide array of natural resources that provide enormous opportunity for future development.
