ASHGABAT (TCA) — Russian President Vladimir Putin has hosted the president of Turkmenistan for talks following the long-awaited signing of a new convention on the legal status of the resource-rich Caspian Sea, RFE/RL reported.

At the start of his meeting with Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov in Russia’s Black Sea resort city of Sochi on August 15, Putin said he would like to discuss “all issues that are of interest for bilateral relations” following the signing of the agreement.

“We have always built our relations based on mutual respect, so we are really doing a lot to promote our cooperation,” the Turkmen leader said.

Ahead of the informal meeting, the Kremlin said the talks would touch upon the “entire range of bilateral relations,” including a “possible energy dialogue.”

The Sochi meeting came three days after an August 12 summit in Kazakhstan’s port city of Aktau during which Putin, Berdymukhammedov, and the presidents of Azerbaijan, Iran, and Kazakhstan signed a new convention on the legal status and delimitation of the oil- and gas-rich Caspian Sea — a matter disputed by the five littoral states for more than 20 years.

The talks also followed the signing of a “strategic partnership” agreement between Russia and Turkmenistan in Ashgabat in October 2017.

Ties between the two countries have been strained by disputes over the issue of natural-gas supplies.

Russia has suspended gas purchases from Turkmenistan for years, citing contract violations by Turkmenistan, while the Central Asian country supplied China with its fuel.

Turkmenistan casts itself as a neutral country and is not a member of the Russia-led Eurasian Economic Union or the Collective Security Treaty Organization, which include other former Soviet republics in Central Asia.

BISHKEK (TCA) — On August 15, Kyrgyzstan President Sooronbai Jeenbekov toured the new edible oil and garlic processing facility in Uzgen as part of his visit to Osh and Jalal-Abad oblasts in the south of the country. The new facility, a joint investment of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and ElDan Atalyk, will employ 73 full-time workers and purchase large quantities of local crops. ElDan Atalyk already has plans this year to buy 4,200 tons of safflower, soybean and rapeseed from thousands of local farmers, the US Embassy in Bishkek reported.

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BISHKEK (TCA) — Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan are working on a possible land swap near the border between the two Central Asian states, some parts of which have not been formally delineated since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, RFE/RL’s Kyrgyz Service reported.

Burkanbek Ashyrov, head of the Barak village in Kyrgyzstan’s Barak exclave, told RFE/RL on August 15 that an agreement had been reached to exchange the exclave for land around the village of Birleshken in Uzbekistan’s Andijon region.

The Barak exclave is comprised of 230 hectares of land that is completely surrounded by Uzbek territory. It is under the rural Ak-Tash administration of the Kara-Suu district of Kyrgyzstan’s southern Osh region.

The land around the Uzbek village of Birleshken is adjacent to the Kyrgyz-Uzbek border.

According to Ashyrov, the exchange process could take up to two years.

Kyrgyz authorities launched a program in 2013 to resettle the Barak exclave’s population in other parts of Kyrgyzstan. About 20 Kyrgyz families remain in the exclave.

About 85 percent of the 1,400-kilometer-long Kyrgyz-Uzbek border has been delineated.

Remaining border sections with an undefined status include the areas around Barak and Uzbekistan’s exclaves of Sokh and Shahimardan, which are completely surrounded by Kyrgyz territory.

Tensions in those areas have led to clashes between local residents and border guards of the former Soviet republics.

KABUL (TCA) — The Taliban says it has withdrawn from a security agreement with the International Committee of the Red Crescent (ICRC) that guarantees safety for the international organization’s workers across Afghanistan, RFE/RL reports.

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ASTANA (TCA) — Kazakhstan’s GDP growth in January-July 2018 reached 4%. It was said at the meeting of the Government on August 14 which reviewed the results of the country’s economic development for the first 7 months of 2018, the official website of the Prime Minister of Kazakhstan reported.

Minister of National Economy Timur Suleimenov reported that the main impetus to the growth of the economy was given by the weakening of inflationary pressure, high investment activity and the preservation of positive dynamics in the main sectors of the economy.

Inflation is maintained at a three-year minimum. From the beginning of the year it was 2.7%, with annual inflation of 5.9%.

As of August 1, the country’s international reserves amounted to $87.7 billion, including assets of the National Fund at $56.8 billion, gold and foreign currency reserves at $30.9 billion.

Industrial production increased by 5.1%. The largest contribution to the growth of industrial activity was made by extractive industries. The output of the mining industry increased by 5.4%. The driving force was the oil production (6.1%), gas (6.4%) and iron ore (7.4%).

The manufacturing industry growth was 4.9%. The highest growth was shown by machine building — 16%. Growth was provided by industries with more complex production components. These include automobile industry (58.5%), the production of electrical equipment (47.2%) and electronic and optical products (45.7%).

There is a steady growth in the chemical industry (10.9%), oil refining (4.4%), metallurgy (3.6%), and paper production (10.1%).

The output of agricultural products increased by 3.5%. The growth of services was 3.8%.

According to the minister, high production activity had a positive impact on labor market indicators. Since the beginning of this year, 297,100 people have been employed. The unemployment rate was 4.9%.

According to preliminary data, Kazakhstan’s foreign trade for January-May 2018 amounted to $35.6 billion and increased by 18% compared to the same period of 2017, including exports — $23.3 billion (an increase of 22.3%) and imports — $12.3 billion (10.7% growth).