DUSHANBE (TCA) — The Government of Japan has provided 267 million Japanese yens (approx. $2.26 million) to the project of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) aimed at strengthening capacities of law enforcement agencies of Tajikistan responsible for border control between Tajikistan and Afghanistan, as well as enhancing the border security in Tajikistan’s Khatlon region, UNODC said.
DUSHANBE (TCA) — The parliament of Tajikistan has approved amendments criminalizing “illegal” hard-currency exchanges.
TASHKENT (TCA) — Commercial banks in Uzbekistan are providing financial support to entrepreneurs developing fish farms in the country’s regions as part of the government’s measures aimed at ensuring food security and agricultural development, the Jahon information agency reported.
BISHKEK (TCA) — There is still a need to create more favorable investment climate for the small hydropower development in Kyrgyzstan, Kyrgyz Parliament Member Zhyrgalbek Turuskulov said at the Second Meeting on “Challenges and ways of development of the Small Hydropower in the Kyrgyz Republic – II”. The event was organized late last month within the framework of the “Small Hydropower Development in Kyrgyzstan” project implemented by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and funded by the Global Environment Facility. The key objective of the event was to define the main challenges and barriers hampering investment into the small hydropower in Kyrgyzstan, the UNDP in Kyrgyzstan reported on its website.
TEHRAN (TCA) — Oman’s top port Salalah has signed a basic agreement with two key Iranian southern trade terminals in what is expected to make the Persian Gulf state Iran’s new biggest trade partner in the region, with potential to increase trade with Central Asian countries via Iran, Iran’s PressTV reported on March 8.
KABUL (TCA) — The United States on March 7 appealed to the Taliban to join peace talks to prevent another upsurge in fighting in Afghanistan this spring, RFE/RL reported on March 8.
