Author: Fazilat Vahidova

NEW DELHI (Reuters) – India’s government laboratories should give “top priority” to testing cough syrup for export, the drug regulator said on Wednesday, after the deaths of dozens of children in Gambia and Uzbekistan were linked to the medicines. The Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation’s directive also said laboratories should issue test reports immediately, or as early as possible, after analysing samples from manufacturers. India made tests for cough syrup exports mandatory earlier this week after the World Health Organization (WHO) found toxins in cough syrups made by three Indian companies. Syrups made by two of these companies were linked…

The new system is expected to be part of the joint air defense scheme of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries. The agreement states bodies authorized to implement it are Russian and Kyrgyz Defense Ministries, and in particular it envisages joint actions of troops coordinated by the head of the Russian space forces and controlled by the commander of the Kyrgyz air force. Similarly, the document states that the treaty is signed for five years, with automatic renewal for subsequent five-year periods, that is’if no party notifies the other party in writing of its intention to terminate the validity…

A $49 million American humanitarian program to aid Afghan war victims will close after five years, amid difficulties that arose after the withdrawal of U.S. troops from the country. The Conflict Mitigation Assistance for Civilians program will end June 30, Nitin Madhav, director of the office of Afghanistan affairs at the U.S. Agency for International Development, said Friday. Experts say the program highlights contradictions in American policy toward Afghanistan, where the U.S. remains the largest donor but also does not want to be seen as legitimizing the militant group that ousted the U.S.-backed government. The Taliban attempted to interfere with…

Summary:  The EU has been stepping up its engagement with Central Asia, including on regional cooperation, energy, and connectivity. But to gain more clout, the union must present a positive alternative to powers like China and Russia. This publication is part of Europe’s East, a Carnegie Europe project on European policy toward Eastern Europe and Russia. The EU’s stakes in Central Asia—a region the union has traditionally kept at a distance—are increasing. In one of two high-level trips to Central Asia by senior EU officials in 2022, European Council President Charles Michel called the first-ever meeting with Central Asian leaders…

(MENAFN- Gulf Times) Uzbekistan President Dr Shavkat Mirziyoyev received the credentials of Hassan bin Hamza Hashim as ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary of Qatar to Uzbekistan. The ambassador conveyed the greetings of His Highness the Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani to the president of Uzbekistan, and His Highness’ wishes of health and happiness to the president and to the government and people of Uzbekistan continued progress and prosperity. For his part, the president entrusted the ambassador to convey his greetings to the Amir, wishing His Highness health and happiness, and Qatar continued progress and prosperity. Source: Mena FN

In our podcast this week, Aigerim Toleukhanova and Alisher Khamidov discuss how reports of a small group of separatists in northern Kazakhstan have outraged Kazakhs. But how credible is the threat? And why has the group emerged now? Regional governments are good at using fears of separatism to argue that citizens must fall into line, to silence protests and democratic movements. Uzbekistan has been shaken by a horrific tale of sexual slavery in an Urgench orphanage. The perpetrators were local officials who had gone largely unpunished until the president’s daughter, Saida Mirziyoyeva, demanded justice. Does it really require an intervention…

Pakistan Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari is set to visit India from 4-5 May to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Summit in Goa. This will be a first, for a Pakistan foreign minister visiting India, after Hina Rabbani Khar came to India in 2011.  Twelve years later, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari will visit India, leading a delegation to the meeting of the SCO Foreign Ministers (CFM), that is scheduled to be held on 4-5 May in Goa.  Noatbly, India has formally sent invitations to all members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) including Pakistan and China for the upcoming foreign ministers’…

Jizzakh (Uzbekistan) (AFP) – On stage in front of a few hundred people, an entertainer desperately tries to sell a controversial April referendum that could extend the rule of Uzbekistan’s autocratic leader until 2040. The April 30 vote is on a constitutional amendment that would introduce seven-year presidential terms and allow President Shavkat Mirziyoyev to run for two new terms. This would allow Mirziyoyev, in power since 2016, to potentially rule for two more decades. “Will you come to vote?” the entertainer asks the mostly young crowd. Few doubt the outcome of the referendum, billed as ushering in an “era…

ASTANA – Tashkent hosted a Central Asian regional conference on April 14 dedicated to the role of public diplomacy in strengthening peace and good neighborliness in the region, reported Kazinform.  According to the Director of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Center for Public Diplomacy in Uzbekistan Kabuljon Sabirov, the conference, which takes place amid challenging times, strengthens relations among the Central Asian countries. “Central Asia is an important player in international relations. The emergence of the expression Spirit of Central Asia in the realm of political science emphasizes that regional cooperation relies on mutual trust and solidarity. The region’s countries…

(9/3 – 125) Kazakhstan is gearing up for snap elections of the lower house of parliament on March 19, and there is a sense of anticipation in the air. President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, who came to power in 2019, called for snap elections in the wake of the deadly street protests in January 2022. The elections are part of the president’s ambitious reform agenda, Jana Kazakhstan (New Kazakhstan), which aims to usher in a new era of political liberalization. The parliamentary elections are stage two of Tokayev’s program, following his re-election winning 80 percent of the votes last November. The coming…