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LONDON (TCA) — The Shanghai Cooperation Organization, also known as the Shanghai Six, is becoming Shanghai Eight with the now formalized entry of India and Pakistan. For Central Asia’s former Soviet republics, it means that their troublesome neighbor Afghanistan is now sealed from the south, and the two new SCO member states will have less excuses to stand by should the Afghan civil war spill over towards the north. Continue reading
BISHKEK (TCA) — Recently an Italian delegation was in Kazakhstan to find ways and means to cooperate with Kazakh companies to produce in Kazakhstan with Italy as the main partner for the export to Russia. A similar trend is in process in Kyrgyzstan, while European and Turkish companies are already very active in developing new joint ventures with manufacturing and processing plants in Russia, Belarus and other countries. The objective is everywhere the same — a continuation of business relations and trade with the important market of Russia. European exporters are fully aware of the damage they have been suffering in the last 18 months following the European sanctions and Russian counter sanctions, and they are trying to keep the business relations built during many years of cooperation with the Russian market. Continue reading
BISHKEK (TCA) — All said, nothing done. Yes – the Aral Sea must be restored; no – not at our expense. This was roughly the goodbye message Kyrgyzstan gave to one of the (many) paper tigers bearing the banner of Aral preservation before slamming the door. Continue reading
ALMATY (TCA) — On the initiative of Kazakhstan’s head of state, the European Union has come to a point where it cannot rule out normal bloc-to-bloc relations with the Eurasian Economic Union. Both sides are certainly looking for a fair deal, but political reasons may also represent a barrier to be overcome. Continue reading
LONDON (TCA) — It is almost two years now that Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Russia proceeded with the formation of the Russian-led Eurasian Economic Union (EEU), a step forward from their Customs Union. Armenia and Kyrgyzstan afterwards joined the Union, and as things stand today the EEU is consolidating and trying to transform the principles that hold it together from just good will into a well-regulated system. Continue reading
URUMQI, China (TCA) — China has offered its military support to Afghanistan to combat terrorism, which may spread toward Central Asia and the western Chinese province of Xinjiang bordering Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan. This brings us back to the problem of the Uyghurs and the long list of ethnic minorities “without land” such as the Laps and the Basks in Europe, the Tamils, the Sikhs, the Kurds, and the Kashmiri in Asia. The nearly 10 million strong Uyghur nation, now mostly located within China, clash with the so-called national integrity of UN member states, with problems and solutions that not always match. Continue reading
