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LONDON (TCA) — Upcoming December 4, the Uzbeks will go to the polls to elect a new president, following the death of their quarter-century-ruling leader Islam Karimov. Investors can take a break while those dreaming of a velvet revolution are in for a wake-up call: the issue of “succession” in Uzbekistan appears to have been well-precooked in a most timely and almost elegant manner. As in surrounding former Soviet republics except Kyrgyzstan, the Uzbeks do not like surprises, especially those considered prepared elsewhere. Continue reading
LONDON (TCA) — Who is in charge in Kyrgyzstan, and who in case of differences between the “pillars of power” is to have the last word? The Kyrgyz Parliament has recently approved a draft law to hold a nationwide referendum aimed to approve constitutional amendments. Critics inside and outside Parliament accuse the head of state of trying to push for fresh changes in the Constitution in order to shift more powers from Parliament and the Government towards himself. Most surprising is that reading the Constitution leads to the inevitable conclusion that in case he would want to do so he does not need any changes, since the present ambiguity of the Constitution would perfectly allow him to do so within it. Continue reading
BISHKEK (TCA) — Today, east-west rail links are considered at least as important as maritime power. The various branches included in China’s ambitious plan to install a hardware network, in which rail and road links are crucial, face various problems, though. The problems include the failure of different players in the complex game, in particular Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, to come to a joint agreement to eliminate border hubs for transit traffic – not to speak of battlefield Afghanistan. This, as well as other factors, makes land routes more complicated and thereby more expensive than wished for. Continue reading
BISHKEK (TCA) — As the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UN ESCAP) Committee on ICT, Science, Technology and Innovation will hold its first session from 5 to 7 October in Bangkok, we are publishing the following OP-ED on closing the broadband divide to connect people in Asia and the Pacific, written by Dr. Shamshad Akhtar, Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and Executive Secretary of UN ESCAP, in the lead up to the event: Continue reading
ALMATY (TCA) — China’s ambitious plan to install a hardware network, in which rail and road links are crucial, to get its economic clout stretch all across the mega-continent straight to western Europe looks at three main strings: across Siberia in the north, Central Asia in the middle, and the Indian Ocean’s coastal states in the south. Most of the headaches encountered in the process concern the middle route. Continue reading
BISHKEK (TCA) — Today, east-west rail links are considered at least as important as maritime power. And though at varying speed according to working area, spades are being put into the ground as construction work proceeds, thereby increasing investors’ trust that something is actually being done with their money except paperwork. Continue reading
