ASHGABAT (TCA) — As prospects to diversify, and increase, natural-gas exports remain uncertain and rather long-term, Turkmenistan is taking steps to increase the generation and export of electrical power — which would face obstacles as well. We are republishing this article on the issue, originally published by Eurasianet:

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ASTANA (TCA) — Development Bank of Kazakhstan (DBK), a subsidiary of the National Managing Holding Baiterek, on March 2 said it has opened a credit line for YDD Corporation LLP in the amount of up to KZT 24.120 billion for a period of 11 years for construction of the first stage of a plant for the production of ferrosilicon in the city of Karaganda with a production capacity of 96,000 tons per year.

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TASHKENT (TCA) — Uzbek opposition journalist Yusuf Rozimurodov has been released from prison after spending 19 years behind bars, human rights activist Ismoil Adilov has told RFE/RL.

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BISHKEK (TCA) — There are signs that Kyrgyzstan’s president has begun to get rid of the political legacy of his predecessor, with the strained relations with neighboring Kazakhstan being a difficult issue on Bishkek’s foreign-policy agenda. We are republishing this article on the issue by Farkhad Sharip, originally published by The Jamestown Foundation’s Eurasia Daily Monitor:

The security forces of Kazakhstan carried out a special operation on February 16, and detained 29 members of a criminal gang, which included customs officials as well as law enforcement officers. Among those arrested was Damirbek Asylbek ulu, a deputy of the parliament of neighboring Kyrgyzstan. The detention of such a high-ranking public figure prompted a note of protest from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kyrgyzstan. But in response, Kazakhstani authorities announced that Asylbek ulu had dual citizenship of Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan and, thus, could be brought to trial inside Kazakhstan (Sputnik.kg, February 18).

A court in Almaty has charged Asylbek ulu, along with two other nationals of Kyrgyzstan, with dealing in contraband trade, punishable under Article 234, part 3 of the Criminal Code of Kazakhstan. The three men also face charges of setting up a transnational criminal gang and taking part in its activities, according to Article 264, part 2 of the Criminal Code. Members of Kyrgyzstan’s parliament (Zhogorku Kenesh) distanced themselves from the case, saying they would not interfere with the Kazakhstani investigation (Informburo.kz, February 19).

Shortly after deputy Asylbek ulu’s detention, the head of the anti-corruption service of the State National Security Committee (SNSC) of Kyrgyzstan, Duyshenbek Chotkarayev, was sacked from his post via presidential decree. He was appointed to this post by then-president Almazbek Atambayev, in May 2016. The dismissal followed recently elected President Sooronbay Zheenbekov’s sharp criticism leveled at officials of the anti-corruption department of the SNSC who, in his words “have turned into a caste of untouchables.” Zheenbekov specifically questioned the ability of some SNSC officials to perform their duties (Barometr.kg, February 8).

These developments may portend further dismissals of Atambayev-era officials in the coming months. Zheenbekov is heavily indebted to his predecessor for winning the presidency late last year: the two men founded the Social Democratic Party back in 1995, and he received massive support from Atambayev during the election campaign. But apparently, President Zheenbekov now feels that to reach his stated priority goals of boosting the economic development of Kyrgyzstan’s regions as well as mending fences with its neighbors—particularly with partners in the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) and with China—he has to rid himself of people from Atambayev’s entourage and improve the Kyrgyz Republic’s international image. On February 2, he appointed Aizada Subakozhayeva, a Beijing-educated expert on China who earlier served as the third secretary in Kyrgyzstan’s embassy in Beijing, to head the presidential administration’s foreign policy department (Knews.kg, February 9).

On February 20, Emil Kaikiev, a former Kyrgyzstani deputy foreign minister and an experienced diplomat, was appointed minister of energy and infrastructure within the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC) by EEU member states (Kabar.kg, February 20).

Bilateral relations with Kazakhstan had soured to a critical point under Almazbek Atambayev. But Since Zheenbekov’s ascendency to the presidency, this relationship has been showing some signs of improvement. Shortly after the Kyrgyzstani presidential elections (held on October 15), Kazakhstan reopened its border for cargo trucks and citizens of the Kyrgyz Republic. The border was shut down last fall by Kazakhstani authorities following Atambayev’s verbal attacks on President Nursultan Nazarbayev (see EDM, September 27, 2017; October 18, 2017). Talks between the two countries’ leaders on the sidelines of the November 30 Minsk Summit of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) as well as the later visit by Zheenbekov to Kazakhstan on December 25–26 were assessed by Bishkek as important steps toward a final demarcation of their 1,241-kilometer-long shared border. In addition, Kyrgyzstan saw these as helping to improve trade relations within the Eurasian Economic Union (Abctv.kz, December 25, 2017).

And yet, there is little to indicate that Sooronbay Zheenbekov prioritizes relations with Kazakhstan at this point. His first official foreign visit as president of Kyrgyzstan was to Uzbekistan, not Kazakhstan. Speaking in the city of Isfana, in the Batken region, on February 20, he said that Kyrgyzstan would build friendly relations with all neighboring states. But in fact he mentioned only his meeting with his Uzbekistani counterpart, Shavkat Mirziyayev, with whom he reached “mutually acceptable solutions on many issues,” including common borders. “Border talks with Tajikistan are also on the right track,” Zheenbekov added (24.kg, February 20).

It could be expected that membership in the Eurasian Economic Union would bring Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan closer. But the increasing flow of smuggled Chinese goods to Kazakhstani markets through Kyrgyzstan, the lack of adequate phytosanitary controls of agricultural produce on Kyrgyzstan’s side of the border, problems related to illegal Kyrgyzstani migrant workers in Kazakhstan, as well as the scarcity of irrigation water for South Kazakhstan coming from upstream Kyrgyzstan remain persistent sources of disputes. So far, joining the EEU has not helped solve any of these problems, and hardly will, unless the two fraternal Central Asian countries show a genuine willingness to settle their bilateral issues jointly.

BISHKEK (TCA) — Over the last year, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) facilitated more than $6 million in exports for local Kyrgyz businesses in the garment industry and agricultural sectors, the US Embassy in Kyrgyzstan said on March 1.

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TASHKENT (TCA) — Uzbekistan President Shavkat Mirziyoyev is to make his first visit to Tajikistan on March 9 and 10, in an effort to improve relations between the neighboring countries, Sputnik news agency reports.

Relations between Uzbekistan and Tajikistan were strained during the rule of Islam Karimov, Uzbekistan’s first post-independence president who ruled the country with an iron hand from 1991 until his death in September 2016, but that has begun to change since Mirziyoyev took office.

Since taking power in Tashkent in December 2016, Mirziyoyev has positioned himself as a reformer — including improving Uzbekistan’s frosty relations with its neighbors. He has visited Kyrgyzstan once, Turkmenistan thrice, and Kazakhstan four times in just over a year in office.

Karimov traveled to Dushanbe only twice in his quarter-century-long presidency: once in 2008 and once in 2014, both times as part of Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) multinational summits. No such qualification is attached to Mirziyoyev’s visit, making it a historic moment in the two countries’ relations.

From 2010 until 2017, only two of the 16 checkpoints that allowed crossing between the two countries were open. On March 1, Tashkent announced the reopening of nine checkpoints.

Tashkent has resumed direct flights to Tajikistan for the first time since 1992. Uzbekistan may also abolish a toll on freight trucks and buses from Tajikistan entering the country, according to Asia Plus. They previously abolished a similar fee on rail freight.

The warming relationship between the two countries resulted in the fact that bilateral trade in 2017 was $236.8 million, more than 20 percent higher than in the previous year.