The Economist believes that Uzbekistan still has a long way to go, but no other country travelled as far in 2019. Three years ago, according to the publication, Uzbekistan was a closed society run with exceptional brutality and incompetence. Shavkat Mirziyoyev, who came to the leadership, began reforms that have accelerated over the past year.

His government has largely ended forced labour. Its most notorious prison camp has been closed. Foreign journalists are let in. More border crossings have opened, helping unite families divided by Central Asia’s crazy quilt of frontiers.

Foreign technocrats have been invited to help overhaul the state-stifled economy, notes The Economist, now the country is to hold parliamentary elections before the New Year.