Apr 032009
 
Caroline Gruosi-Scheufele and Gulnara Karimova
03.04.09 23:38                 gulnora-karimova
Chopard postpones cooperation with Uzbek presidential daughter
Uznews.net – The Swiss jewellery company Chopard has declined to hold the joint presentation of the new Guli brand, created by the Uzbek president’s daughter Gulnara Karimova, at a watch and jewellery tradeshow in Basel.

Despite the long-planned joint presentation of Gulnara’s jewellery collection at the Basel fair between 26 March and 2 April, Chopard suddenly backed away from its commitment, postponing the event indefinitely.

There was no joint presentation of the collection by Guli and Chopard in Basel, Annette Heuer, Chopard’s public relations officer, said.

She said that Chopard had not stopped cooperation with Karimova, who is Uzbekistan’s envoy to the UN Office at Geneva, but had suspended it until it found out what the money raised from the sales of the collection would be spent on. Karimova’s guli.uz website claims that it will be spent on children’s projects in Uzbekistan.

Realising that cooperation with Karimova, a daughter of one of the world’s most brutal dictators, will give rise to questions about Chopard’s policy and ethical standards, Heuer tried to reassure the press that this cooperation had nothing to do with politics.

Chopard does not get involved in politics, while this is a union of two creative persons, she said about dealings between Chopard’s Vice-President Caroline Gruosi-Scheufele and Gulnara Karimova.

However, the Guli collection was presented in Basel and Gulnara Karimova attended its stand. Her representatives told journalists that the collection had been created specifically for Chopard and that it had been promoted jointly with the Swiss company.

Asked to comment these claims, Chopard’s press service said that it was not aware about the presentation of the Guli collection because Chopard had nothing to do with the collection’s stand in Basel.

Gulnara Karimov, the Uzbek president’s 36-year-old ambitious daughter, is climbing up to the top of the beaux mondes of Europe and the USA, and she can be seen on photographs in the companies of Elton John, Sharon Stone, designer John Galliano and other celebrities.

She can also be often seen at fashion weeks in European and US cities.

Her sister Lola Tillyayeva-Karimova, Uzbekistan’s envoy to UNESCO, can also be seen at Chanel, Christian Dior and other events in Paris.

This shows the tastes and interests of President Islam Karimov’s daughters and opportunities opened for them by their father, who shares the wealth of the 28-million-strong country only with several loyalists of his.

A Western observer said that Karimov’s daughters could mix with the world’s A-listed celebrities until the latter learnt more about them because even if the Karimovs do not care about their people’s opinions, Western celebrities do care about their public images because it has a direct impact on their fees and the sales of music, films or accessories they produce.

Chopard was not born, as Guli was, thanks to the dictator, which is why it should carefully assess the damage the infection called Guli may inflict on its 140-year-old reputation.

photo: Canal Plus

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