BISHKEK (TCA) — Michael Georg Link, Director of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), on May 14 welcomed last Thursday’s rejection on third reading by the Jogorku Kenesh, Kyrgyzstan’s parliament, of draft legislation that would have imposed unnecessarily cumbersome reporting requirements for non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Kyrgyzstan.
ALMATY (TCA) — The OSCE Programme Office in Astana, in cooperation with the International Centre for Journalism MediaNet and the Konrad Adenauer Foundation in Kazakhstan last week held the seventh annual Central Asian Forum on Internet Development in Almaty.
BISHKEK (TCA) — The Times of Central Asia presents to its readers Stratfor’s Global Intelligence, a weekly review of the most important events that happened in the world — from Europe to Middle East to Russia to Central Asia to Afghanistan to China and the Americas.
BISHKEK (TCA) — The official launching ceremony of the Central Asia-South Asia Electricity Transmission and Trade Project (CASA-1000) took place on May 12 in Tursunzade city located 60 kilometers from Dushanbe, the capital of Tajikistan. The event was attended by Tajik President Emomali Rahmon, Prime Minister of Kyrgyzstan Sooronbai Jeenbekov, Prime Minister of Pakistan Nawaz Sharif, and Chief Executive of Afghanistan Abdullah Abdullah.
BISHKEK (TCA) — The Government of Kyrgyzstan has finally found funds to continue the reconstruction of the Balykchy—Tamchy—Cholpon-Ata—Korumdu section of the planned Ring Road around Lake Issyk-Kul. There is no information on sources of funding.
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.
