BISHKEK (TCA) — Small and medium-sized private enterprises (SMEs) in Central Asia will benefit from a new Regional Small Business Programme (RSBP) launched in Almaty on January 30. The EU-funded project will be managed by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and will equip financial institutions in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan with new digital business tools for effective work with small businesses, the EBRD said.

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BISHKEK (TCA) — The Supreme Leader of Iran Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei on January 30 said that by relocating Daesh (Islamic State) militants from Iraq and Syria to Afghanistan, the United States is pursuing its objectives in the region, TOLOnews reported.

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TASHKENT (TCA) — The son of Gulnara Karimova, the eldest daughter of the late longtime Uzbek President Islam Karimov, has asked for political asylum in Great Britain, RFE/RL reported.

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BISHKEK (TCA) — At its forum event in Washington, DC last week, the Central Asia-Caucasus Institute (CACI) released “Uzbekistan’s New Foreign Policy: Change and Continuity under New Leadership,” a Silk Road Paper by Richard Weitz, published by the Central Asia-Caucasus Institute and Silk Road Studies Program, Joint Center.

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BISHKEK (TCA) — The Uyghur Human Rights Project (UHRP) on January 29 said it has received confirmation from the relatives of Muhammad Salih Hajim of his death in custody in China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. The prominent scholar and Uyghur religious leader was 82 years old.

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ALMATY (TCA) — A business forum to attract investments was organized at the Khorgos International Centre of Boundary Cooperation (ICBC) at the initiative of the Administrative Committee of JSC ICBC Khorgos (Kazakhstan) and FEZ Khorgos (China), the press office of Kazakhstan’s national railways company Kazakhstan Temir Zholy (KTZ) reported on January 29.

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