Author: Ghafur Narzuqulov

Beijing is arranging generous gifts for the Central Asian region in preparation of the China-Central Asian summit to be held May 18-19 in Xi’an. Thus far, these have included a Visa-Free agreement being prepared for signing with Kazakhstan, while other Central Asian countries are discussing transport projects and logistics for access to the China’s Lianyungang seaport on the Yellow Sea. The Lianyungang Port contains a Free Trade Zone and specific Central Asia trade facilities including Chinese employees with the pertinent language skills, as well as bonded warehouses and production facilities. This allows Central Asian and Chinese investors to work together to…

WASHINGTON — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he discussed Uzbekistan’s reform agenda with President Shavkat Mirziyoyev during a closed-door meeting Wednesday in Tashkent. After Uzbekistan, Blinken heads to India for a G-20 foreign ministers’ meeting. The chief U.S. diplomat said he has no plan to meet separately on the sidelines with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov or Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang, who also are attending the meeting. Speaking to reporters in Tashkent, Blinken said he highlighted the importance of media freedoms and having a space for civil society. He pointed to efforts to rid Uzbekistan’s cotton industry of…

Kazakhstan’s ability to diversify its seaborne crude oil export routes away from Russian territory is critical to the country’s economy, the developer of an alternative port told CNBC. “I believe it’s less political, more existential question, and we hope that also international community is going to support that initiative to have alternative routes in order to minimize the effects of any supply shortages,” Nurzhan Marabayev, CEO of Kazakh infrastructure investor Semurg Invest, told CNBC’s Dan Murphy and Hadley Gamble. His company has been working to develop the Kuryk port on the eastern coast of the Caspian Sea — a project…

Resource businesses are booming in the vast steppes of Kazakhstan. Oil, gas, iron, copper, and uranium extracted by state-owned enterprises and joint-ventures with the energy majors and mining giants of the world comprise the core of a thriving export economy. Thanks in part to a welcoming investment climate and the ongoing “Nurly Zhol” (Bright Path) infrastructure modernization program, the country is developing into an important conduit for east-west commerce, harkening back to centuries past when the Silk Road was the main vein of world trade. But in the backyard of a debilitated Russia and in the pathway of an ascendant China, Kazakhstan is warming…

Blackouts and “rationalisation” of energy consumption (a euphemism for coordinated blackouts) are all too frequent in Central Asia. Energy shortages arising from limited generation, insufficient energy imports, or the poor state of the transmission network mean that blackouts recur. This winter, however, the situation grew significantly worse. Amid exceptional cold weather, many households, businesses, and schools remained without heating and electricity for days on end. Unusually, the blackouts not only afflicted communities in remote regions but also capital cities. Most of the region’s inefficient power generation and transmission infrastructure dates to the Soviet era. Central Asia faces rising demand for…

March 3 — Electric bus manufacturer Yutong Bus has delivered China’s largest commercial vehicle order along the Belt and Road Initiative to Uzbekistan. Yutong delivered 800 buses — 300 electric and 500 compressed natural gas ones — to Uzbekistan yesterday, the Zhengzhou-based firm announced. This was also the largest new energy bus order a Chinese company has received this year, Yutong added. Yutong will accelerate the layout of new energy buses overseas, Peng Xu, head of the firm’s overseas marketing department, told Yicai Global. “There are other bus makers overseas, but they don’t have the same new energy technology advantages…

Prid since the beginning of December in the turmoil of Qatargate, the European Parliament will be a civil party. “The process is underway, the European Parliament intends and has taken the relevant internal steps to this end”, confirms the press service of the Brussels institution.  However, no deadline has been specified for this complaint, nor the name of the lawyer who will represent Parliament. At the same time as this legal procedure, Parliament suspended the immunities of MPs Marc Tarabella and Andrea Cozzolino so that they could be heard by the courts. The first was placed under arrest warrant on February 11 and the…

(MENAFN- Trend News Agency) BAKU, Azerbaijan, December 24. President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev received Deputy Prime Minister – Minister of Investments and Foreign Trade of the Republic of Uzbekistan Jamshid Khodjaev on December 24, trend reports. Source : Menafn