Central Asia better protected with India and Pakistan membership to SCO

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.

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Kazakhstan Foreign Investors’ Council focuses on Astana Int’l Financial Centre

ASTANA (TCA) — The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) believes that the Astana International Financial Centre (AIFC) will serve as an anchor for reform and the development of the domestic financial sector, EBRD President Sir Suma Chakrabarti said in a speech at Kazakhstan Foreign Investors’ Council in Astana on May 27, which he co-chaired with Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev.

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Sergey Kwan

TCA

Sergey Kwan has worked for The Times of Central Asia as a journalist, translator and editor since its foundation in March 1999. Prior to this, from 1996-1997, he worked as a translator at The Kyrgyzstan Chronicle, and from 1997-1999, as a translator at The Central Asian Post.
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Kwan studied at the Bishkek Polytechnic Institute from 1990-1994, before completing his training in print journalism in Denmark.

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Central Asia and Russian and European sanctions: manufacturing locally with a foreign partner

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.

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Giorgio Fiacconi

Giorgio Fiacconi, TCA publisher

Giorgio Fiacconi founded The Times of Central Asia in Bishkek in 1999, firstly in a print edition, and later online. With a background as a journalist and an entrepreneur with global interests, he implemented numerous projects in South East Asia before moving to Moscow in 1989.
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Relocating to Kazakhstan and later to Kyrgyzstan in 1994, he developed trade ties between Central Asia and Italy in concert with the Italian Government and the European Union, and was the First Honorary Consul of Italy to Kyrgyzstan in Bishkek for approximately fifteen years.

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UNDP praises green economy policy pursued by Kazakhstan

ASTANA (TCA) — At a press conference during the Astana Economic Forum on May 26, UN Assistant Secretary-General, UN Development Programme (UNDP) Assistant Administrator and Director of the Regional Bureau for Europe and CIS (RBEC) Cihan Sultanoglu praised Kazakhstan’s determination to green its economy and purposeful work which the country carries out in this area, the UNDP in Kazakhstan reported.

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Sergey Kwan

TCA

Sergey Kwan has worked for The Times of Central Asia as a journalist, translator and editor since its foundation in March 1999. Prior to this, from 1996-1997, he worked as a translator at The Kyrgyzstan Chronicle, and from 1997-1999, as a translator at The Central Asian Post.
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Kwan studied at the Bishkek Polytechnic Institute from 1990-1994, before completing his training in print journalism in Denmark.

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EBRD makes new investments worth €350 million in Kazakhstan

ASTANA (TCA) — The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is signing projects worth over €350 million in Kazakhstan this week with investments that improve the quality of public services for the population, raise food quality standards and help combat climate change, the EBRD Press Office said.

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Sergey Kwan

TCA

Sergey Kwan has worked for The Times of Central Asia as a journalist, translator and editor since its foundation in March 1999. Prior to this, from 1996-1997, he worked as a translator at The Kyrgyzstan Chronicle, and from 1997-1999, as a translator at The Central Asian Post.
divider
Kwan studied at the Bishkek Polytechnic Institute from 1990-1994, before completing his training in print journalism in Denmark.

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