German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov in Berlin on August 29 (official photo)
ASHGABAT (TCA) — After her talks with Turkmenistan President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov in Berlin on August 29, Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel said that Turkmenistan has agreed to discuss the possibility of giving foreign diplomats access to its prisons, RFE/RL reports.
ASHGABAT (TCA) — On August 29, the U.S. Embassy in Ashgabat awarded $85,600 to the National Administration for the Study, Preservation and Restoration of Cultural and Historical Monuments of Turkmenistan from the 2016 Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation (AFCP) program. The award ceremony was held at the Fine Arts Museum of Turkmenistan with the participation of U.S. Ambassador Allan Mustard, U.S. Embassy staff members and officials from the Government of Turkmenistan involved in administering AFCP projects, and representatives of local cultural institutions involved in the study and preservation of Turkmenistan’s cultural and historical heritage, the U.S. Embassy in Ashgabat said.
ASTANA (TCA) — At the meeting of the Kazakhstan-China Border Railroads Commission held in Astana last week, the head of Kazakhstan’s national railways company Kazakhstan Temir Zholy (KTZ), Askar Mamin, and the Chief of Urumchi Railway Shan’ Liczyun expressed the readiness to increase the container shipment volumes along the China-Europe-China route through Kazakhstan, and agreed on the volume of cargo transportation through the Kazakh-Chinese railway border in 2017 to reach 11.5 million tons, the press service of KTZ said.
TASHKENT (TCA) — News of Uzbekistan President Islam Karimov’s illness and hospitalization has sparked speculation about his possible successors. In his Qishloq Ovozi blog, RFE/RL Central Asia specialist Bruce Pannier analyzes who could replace Uzbekistan’s president:
LONDON (TCA) — Many tend to agree that the story of Kyrgyzstan in post-Soviet times is the most interesting, that of Tajikistan the most hopeless and that of Turkmenistan, “the world’s last aristocracy”, the most boring. What they have in common is historic evidence that the availability of local resources does not generate overall domestic prosperity, and that elite, clan and corruption all have their own agenda.
ASTANA (TCA) — The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a $240.3 million loan to help Kazakhstan modernize its transport system. Improved transport connectivity will help increase trade links between Kazakhstan and the markets in East Asia, the Caspian Sea region, and further to Europe, ADB’s Country Office in Kazakhstan said on August 29.
