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World Bank Provides Additional Support for Kyrgyz Republic’s Digital Transformation

On January 12th, the World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors approved $7 million in additional financing to the ongoing Digital Central Asia South Asia (Digital CASA) project for the Kyrgyz Republic. This additional financing complements the original $50 million Digital CASA – Kyrgyz Republic Project approved in March 2018 to support the nation’s digital transformation through increasing access to affordable internet, private investment in the ICT sector, and improving the provision of digital government services. “The Digital CASA – Kyrgyz Republic Project supports the country’s digital transformation agenda and the National Sustainable Development Strategy 2018-2040,” stated Naveed Hassan Naqvi, the World Bank Country Manager for the Kyrgyz Republic. “The project is expected to foster sustainable and inclusive growth by helping bridge the digital divide, especially in rural areas of the country. It also aims to enhance the provision of digital government services, thereby promoting efficient and transparent public administration.” Naqvi stated that the funding will enable 800,000 citizens of the Kyrgyz Republic to access better and more affordable internet services, thus bringing the internet penetration rate in the country to 57%. Among the key goals of the project is laying 2,500 kilometers of fiber-optic network across the country, establishing two cross-border fiber-optic links, and building a government cloud (G-Cloud) infrastructure. The Digital CASA – Kyrgyz Republic project will ultimately help integrate the Kyrgyz Republic and other landlocked countries of Central Asia and parts of South Asia into the regional and global digital economy, thereby enabling these countries to reap the benefits of digitization. “The additional financing is critical for closing the financing gap caused by the need to increase the initially planned capacity for data storage and processing on the G-Cloud,” said Sandra Sargent, World Bank Senior Digital Development Specialist and Project Task Team Leader. “G-Cloud is a government cloud platform that serves as one of the key pillars of digital public infrastructure and will provide storage, processing power, and computing capacity to support e-government services, as well as handle large amounts of data.”

U.S. Interested in Kazakhstan’s Critical Minerals

The Minister of Industry and Construction of Kazakhstan, Kanat Sharlapaev met with U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Energy Resources, Geoffrey Ross Pyatt to deepen the dialogue between the two countries on the development of sustainable mineral value chains, the Kazakh Ministry of Industry and Construction said on January 11th. The meeting took place on the fringes of The Future Minerals Forum in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The two officials discussed key aspects of cooperation in the field of mineral resources, energy, and the prospects for the two nations long-term partnership, taking into account more than thirty years of strong strategic cooperation. The meeting highlighted Kazakhstan's potential to supply more than sixteen critical minerals identified by a U.S. Geological Survey. Among them are bismuth, gallium, vanadium, tungsten, tin, tantalum, niobium, magnesium, lithium, indium, graphite, and cobalt. The parties noted the interest of large American companies, such as Rio Tinto, Cove Capital, and Relativity Space in Kazakhstan’s mining industry. Both sides confirmed their intention to continue their joint efforts to develop sustainable approaches to minerals, stating that this line of work contributes to a sustainable energy transition and creates the conditions for long-term economic sustainability in Kazakhstan and the United States.

Japanese Company to Develop Kyrgyzstan’s Coal Industry

On January 11th, the Ministry of Energy of the Kyrgyz Republic, the Kyrgyzstan-Kagoshima Friendship Association, and the Japanese company, SENTO GROUP Co., Ltd signed a trilateral Memorandum of Cooperation in the coal industry. The document was signed by the Minister of Energy, Taalaibek Ibraev, the Director of the Kyrgyzstan-Kagoshima Friendship Association, Ono Sumiyosu, and the Director of the SENTO GROUP, Kurenuma Shintaro, the Kyrgyz Ministry of Energy stated. The memorandum comes as a follow-up to negotiations on the development of cooperation between the two countries during the visit of the President of the Kyrgyz Republic, Sadyr Japarov to Japan in November 2023; it provides for cooperation between the parties in the exploration of coal deposits, mining, construction of a coal processing plant and a logistics center, as well as the provision of jobs for the local population in coal mining using modern technologies. The Japanese side has also expressed interest in cooperation in the field of hydropower in Kyrgyzstan. The Kyrgyzstan-Kagoshima Friendship Association was created in 2012 by Japanese activists in order to develop comprehensive relations between Japan and the Kyrgyz Republic, and is actively involved in attracting investment to Kyrgyzstan. Founded in 2009, SENTO GROUP Co., Ltd. has extensive experience in carrying out infrastructure work using modern technologies in road construction, restoring infrastructure after natural disasters, and producing equipment for solar power plants.

Karakalpakstan

Uzbekistan to Boost Development in Karakalpakstan

On January 10th, the President of Uzbekistan, Shavkat Mirziyoyev held a government meeting on the socioeconomic development of the Republic of Karakalpakstan, an impoverished autonomous region in the northwest of the country. In recent years, Karakalpakstan has made headlines as a politically volatile area which saw deadly unrest break out in July 2022. The region has also suffered acutely from the consequences of the Aral Sea ecological disaster. At the meeting, it was stated that over the past seven years, Karakalpakstan has undergone unprecedented changes. Twelve of the autonomous republic’s fifteen districts were formerly subsidized by the central government, but now they have begun to bring in revenues to the state budget. More than 5,300 projects have been implemented through investment. Forest plantations covering 1.8 million hectares have been sown on the desiccated bed of the former Aral Sea, and living conditions for 51,000 families have been improved. In Karakalpakstan, there are incentives and opportunities for doing business which are not available in any other parts of Uzbekistan - taxes on profit, turnover, land and property have all been lowered twofold, and social tax has been set at 1%. Over the past two years, seven decrees and resolutions have been adopted on the development of industry, agriculture, entrepreneurship, and the improvement of the infrastructure in mahallas (local neighborhoods) in Karakalpakstan, with a total of $400 million and 250 billion Uzbek som have been allocated for these purposes. Today, the population of Karakalpakstan exceeds two million, and every year 50,000 citizens enter the region’s labor market. At the meeting, the President emphasized the need to train them in modern professions, and provide them with gainful employment and decent conditions. In 2024, the government plans to attract $2.1 billion in foreign investment to the region. This injection of funds will help implement 206 projects in industry, 240 in the services sector, and 34 in agriculture, creating 13,000 jobs. The head of state pointed out that tourism can become a driver of economic growth in Karakalpakstan, and set the task of developing a program to kick-start tourism in the region, with a focus on environmental, ethnographic, and pilgrimage destinations. The establishment of a tourism cluster and attracting foreign experts to the local tourist industry were also discussed.

Uzbek-Japanese Forum Held in Tashkent

On January 10th, an Uzbek-Japanese business forum was held in Tashkent within the framework of the visit of Japan's State Minister of the Economy, Trade and Industry, Ryosuke Kozuki. The forum gathered together the heads of key ministries, industry associations, as well as representatives from around 200 major companies from the two countries, the Ministry of Investment, Industry and Trade of Uzbekistan has reported. Minister Kozuki and the Minister of Investment, Industry and Trade of Uzbekistan, Laziz Kudratov delivered the opening remarks at the forum. Kudratov outlined Uzbekistan's key achievements in economic development and the improvement of the investment climate, highlighting the introduction of effective legislative norms aimed at protecting the rights of investors, the availability of energy resources, and the possibility of duty-free exports to EU markets within the framework of the EU’s GSP+ program for Uzbekistan. Both sides emphasized the importance of intensifying direct contact between representatives of the business circles of the two countries. Alternative energy, IT, education, medicine, tourism, and digitization were named the most promising areas for joint investment projects. The forum also included panel discussions on the topics of "Prospects for Energy Transformation," and "Digital Transformation in Industrial Development: Japanese startups as a tool for the development of Uzbekistan's economy." Fourteen cooperation documents in the fields of education, IT-technologies, alternative energy, medicine, and the use of space technologies in geodesy and cartography were signed.

Kazakhstan and Japan to Cooperate in Low-Carbon Development

On January 9th the Minister of Energy of Kazakhstan, Almasadam Satkaliev, and the Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry of Japan, Ken Saito, signed a memorandum of cooperation in the field of low-carbon development and interaction in energy transition, the Ministry of Energy of Kazakhstan has stated. The document is aimed at strengthening cooperation in the use of energy resources and technologies, including energy conservation and renewable energy sources consistent with the goals of the Paris Agreement. The Minister of Energy of Kazakhstan said that Kazakhstan and Japan are already successfully cooperating in the fields of uranium, oil and gas production, and are also introducing Japanese technologies at energy facilities. The parties reached an agreement to prepare a list of potential projects for joint implementation in the energy sector, including in the field of electric power and renewable energy sources. One such project is for wind power using a 500 MW battery energy storage system in Kazakhstan. The parties also agreed to strengthen their interaction in priority areas in the energy sector, including the implementation of sustainable development goals.