Maria Levina
BISHKEK (TCA) — The official visit of President of Kyrgyzstan Almazbek Atambayev to Uzbekistan on October 5-6 resulted in the signing of documents vital for both countries.
TCA
BISHKEK (TCA) — The Publisher’s note: Central Asia is an important geopolitical area between Europe, Russia and China. It is in Central Asia that world powers have confronted each other for centuries; it is here that China needs to succeed with its new Silk Road Belt for direct access to the Western markets; and it is here that a large wealth of raw materials has its origin. Every week thousands of news appears all over the world in printed and online media and it is quite understandable that many of them may escape the attention of busy readers. At The Times of Central Asia, we strongly believe that more information can better contribute to peaceful development and better knowledge of the region, and for this reason we are presenting this Weekly Digest of Central Asia which compiles what other media have reported during the past week.
Gary Sands
BISHKEK (TCA) — As China has built strong economic ties and growing influence in Central Asia, another East Asian economic giant — South Korea — is taking steps to increase its economic presence and trade in the resource-rich region. We are republishing this article on the issue by Gary Sands*, originally published by EurasiaNet.org:
TCA
KABUL (TCA) — Moscow will host the International Contact Group’s meeting on October 11, where representative from more than 50 countries and international organizations will discuss the Afghanistan peace process and peace talks with the Taliban, Russia’s foreign ministry has said.
TCA
ASHGABAT (TCA) — A large gas chemical plant for production of gasoline from natural gas is under construction in Ovadandepe in Turkmenistan, at the 32nd kilometer of Ashgabat–Dashoguz motor road, the Golden Age Newspaper reported.
According to the state gas concern Turkmengaz, the processing of natural gas into gasoline will be carried out at this unique high-technology facility for the first time in the world practice. This GTG (gas to gasoline) project, based on the technology of Danish company Haldor Topsoe, will allow processing of 1 billion 785 million cubic meters of natural gas and produce 600 thousand tons of A-92 gasoline meeting the requirements of Euro-5 standard. Synthetic fuel will not have neither sulfur nor nitrogen organic components that affect the environment.
The consortium of Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Ltd. (Japan) and Rönesans Endüstri Tesisleri Inşaat Sanaýi ve Tiçaret Anonim Şirketi (Turkey), which have a contract with Turkmengaz for the construction of the plant, has committed to start the production at the end of 2018.
The plant has received the reactors from the license holder, Haldor Topsоe, and Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Ltd. Large compressors were supplied by Mitsubishi, program software by Yokogawa, diesel power packs from German heavy engineering company MAN, and pumping equipment was delivered by American, Korean and French manufacturers. The latest equipment from Holland, Korea, India, Great Britain, and Sweden is installed at the plant.
More than 700 foreign specialists and 4,700 workers and engineers from different regions of Turkmenistan are working on the construction site.
Commissioning of the plant is planned in December 2018.
TCA
TASHKENT (TCA) — Tourism is an important sector of Uzbekistan’s economy and it needs to be improved with the effective use of existing opportunities, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev said at a Government meeting on tourism development, the Jahon information agency reported on October 5.
