TASHKENT (TCA) — Uzbekistan remains a fertile ground for Islamic radicalization, due to the low living standard of the majority of the country’s population and the authorities’ repression of religious and political dissent. We are republishing this article on the issue by Dana E Abizaid, originally published by The Jamestown Foundation’s Terrorism Monitor:
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KABUL (TCA) — Former Afghan President Hamid Karzai has once again criticized the US for its policy in Afghanistan, blaming the deteriorating security situation on the US’s presence in the country, Afghanistan’s broadcaster TOLOnews reported.
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BEIJING (TCA) — Chinese President Xi Jinping on April 23 said that China is willing to deepen pragmatic cooperation with other Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) member countries in defense and security to contribute to long-term regional stability and prosperity, China’s Xinhua news agency reported.
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ASTANA (TCA) — The XI Astana Economic Forum will be held from 17 to 19 May 2018. The main difference of the new Forum from the previous events will be a new format and a global agenda, Kazakhstan’s First Vice Minister of National Economy, Ruslan Dalenov, told a briefing on April 23, the official website of the Prime Minister of Kazakhstan reported.
“The forum has been held for 10 years and has become an international platform that connects economic thought, idea and practice. For 10 years, more than 50 thousand delegates from 150 countries took part in the event. The Forum has a great effect: from attracting international investors to exchange of new ideas for the formation of the agenda of economic policy in Kazakhstan and in the world,” said Dalenov.
At the same time, according to the First Vice Minister, there is a need to restart the forum.
“The world is changing, Kazakhstan is being modernized, and therefore the forum must meet new challenges. The renewed forum should become one of the world’s leading summits on global challenges,” Dalenov said.
As organizers noted, the AEF will become a platform where representatives of the intellectual elite will discuss topical issues of the global agenda and make recommendations to address them.
The Forum will discuss the proposed 11 global themes: Unified Economy, Global Strategy, Urbanization, Sustainability, Clean Energy, Singularity, Digital World, Future of Money, Global Security, A New Mankind, Longevity.
The Forum invited world intellectual elite, leaders of global corporations, global start-ups, prominent futurists, foreign and domestic politicians, authoritative economists and scientists, and Nobel Prize laureates.
“The Astana Economic Forum is becoming one of the driving forces of the new system of international positioning of Kazakhstan in the world intellectual arena. Thanks to the forum, the country’s brand is being promoted through a global expert network,” Dalenov said.
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TASHKENT (TCA) — Turkmenistan President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov started a two-day visit to Uzbekistan on April 23.
Berdymukhammedov and Uzbekistan President Shavkat Mirziyoyev discussed economic, political, and cultural ties between the neighboring countries as well as regional and international affairs, Mirziyoyev’s office said.
Sources close to the Turkmen government told RFE/RL that the construction of the planned Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) natural-gas pipeline was on the agenda for talks during the visit.
The sources spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the issue publicly.
Economically struggling Turkmenistan hopes the pipeline will be built after years of discussion and generate revenues from the export of Turkmen natural gas to new markets.
During the talks the two presidents noted that in the first quarter of this year, the trade turnover between Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan increased by 55 percent. Now it is important to preserve and increase this dynamic, said Mirziyoyev, as reported by his press service.
It was noted that there are all the possibilities for bringing the volume of trade to $500 million by 2020.
To achieve these goals, it is necessary to use the maximum potential of the Joint Intergovernmental Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific, Technical and Cultural Cooperation.
Fruitful meetings at various levels have given new dynamic to cooperation between the two countries, filling it with practical content. In March, the National Industrial Exhibition of Uzbekistan was successfully held in Ashgabat. These days Tashkent hosts the National Exhibition of Turkmenistan and a business forum of businesspeople of the two countries, the Uzbek president’s press service reported.
The presidents agreed to develop cooperation in the sphere of transport and transit, thereby increasing the volume of mutual trade.
Agreements have been reached on joint production of agricultural machinery and automobiles, delivery of oil and oil products, and expansion of trade between border regions of the two countries.
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KABUL (TCA) — Afghanistan President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani on April 23 witnessed the contract signing of three Asian Development Bank-financed (ADB) energy contracts, which will help Afghanistan enhance energy security and efficiency, boost energy supply, and strengthen the country’s cross-border trade in energy, ADB’s country office in Afghanistan said.
