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NUR-SULTAN (TCA) — Kazakhstan hopes to increase trade with Belarus, Kazakhstan’s Ambassador to Belarus Askar Beisenbayev said during a meeting with Belarus First Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandr Turchin in Minsk on September 18, Belarus’s BelTA news agency reported.
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TASHKENT (TCA) — The government of Uzbekistan is planning to switch to market pricing for agricultural products, including for cotton and grain, in the coming years, according to the draft law on the Strategy for the Development of Agriculture for 2020-2030, Xinhua news agency reported.
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DUSHANBE (TCA) — Tajik lawyer Buzurgmehr Yorov has been awarded the Faiziniso Vohidova Human Rights Prize for his contribution to the development of democratic institutions and civil rights in Tajikistan, RFE/RL’s Tajik Service reported.
The award is named after the late prominent Tajik lawyer, Faiziniso Vohidova, who for decades defended dissidents, rights activists, and opposition politicians.
The award, established by the Association of Central Asian Migrants in Europe, was handed to Yorov’s brother Jamshed Yorov in Warsaw at the Human Dimension Implementation Meeting of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, on September 18.
Speaking to RFE/RL after the ceremony, Jamshed Yorov noted the symbolism in his brother receiving the award named for Vohidova as “both had a role in protecting human rights and protecting the people.”
Yorov is among at least five human rights attorneys who groups say have been targeted by Tajik authorities in connection with their work.
He was a lawyer for 13 jailed members and leaders of the Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan, which Tajik President Emomali Rahmon’s government labeled a terrorist organization and outlawed in 2015.
In October 2016, Yorov was sentenced to 23 years in prison after a court convicted him of calling for the government’s overthrow and inciting social unrest.
Later, his prison term was extended to 28 years on additional charges.
Western governments and human rights organizations have accused Tajik authorities of persecuting lawyers, particularly those who took up the defense of government critics.
Last month, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe said that Yorov was shortlisted for the 2019 Vaclav Havel Human Rights Prize along with Chinese Uyghur scholar Ilham Tohti and the Youth Initiative for Human Rights in the Balkans.
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NUR-SULTAN (TCA) — The Government session on September 17, chaired by Prime Minister Askar Mamin, discussed measures to improve the position of Kazakhstan in the World Bank’s Doing Business ranking and other international ratings, the press service of the Prime Minister of Kazakhstan reported.
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BISHKEK (TCA) — The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a $50 million policy-based grant for the first subprogram of the Promoting Economic Diversification Program, which supports the Government of Kyrgyzstan’s efforts to diversify the economy through reforms aimed at improving the country’s trade and investment competitiveness, small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) development, public–private partnerships, and the link between skills development and industry needs, the ADB country office in Kyrgyzstan said on September 17.
“The Kyrgyz Republic has the potential to achieve economic growth that is more sustainable, broad-based, and inclusive, but this is only possible if it maintains efforts to implement critical structural reforms that will help the economy transition to a more dynamic and globally oriented market economy,” said the Director of Public Management, Financial Sector, and Trade for ADB’s Central and West Asia Department Mr. Tariq Niazi. “ADB’s assistance will help the government to gradually reduce the economy’s reliance on gold extraction and remittances and strengthen the foundation for the creation of new businesses and jobs for the people of the Kyrgyz Republic.”
The Promoting Economic Diversification Program, which comprises two subprograms of $50 million each in 2019 and 2021, will support the government’s efforts to implement four high priority reform areas from the country’s National Development Strategy, 2018–2040: (1) trade and investment competitiveness reforms to develop the non-mineral sector and diversify exports and investments; (2) SME development reforms to broaden the economic base and promote entrepreneurship; (3) public–private partnership reforms to develop the country’s social and economic infrastructure; and (4) industry-linked skills development and training reforms to better equip graduates and workers to meet labor market needs.
ADB has been helping the government implement its economic diversification reforms since 2007. “Despite many challenges, including macroeconomic shocks and political crises that have slowed reform implementation, ADB’s annual country performance assessments demonstrate that the Kyrgyz Republic has made solid progress in improving the quality of its policies and institutions,” said ADB Country Director for the Kyrgyz Republic Ms. Candice McDeigan. “ADB’s strong partnership with the government will help efforts to progressively tackle more complex and challenging reforms in the future.”
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KABUL (TCA) — A four-member Taliban delegation has traveled to Tehran for talks with high-ranking Iranian officials — the second such trip by the militants to a foreign country just days after U.S. President Donald Trump announced that peace talks with the United States had collapsed, RFE/RL’s Radio Free Afghanistan reported.
