TCA
DUSHANBE (TCA) — Tajikistan has accused Iran of backing high-profile killings during the Tajik civil war in the 1990s, including the assassination of the former chairman of the Tajik parliament Safarali Kenjaev in 1999, RFE/RL’s Tajik Service reports.
BISHKEK (TCA) — Kazakhstan’s economy, Central Asia’s largest, witnessed an overall economic growth of 4.2 per cent on-year through the first half of the current year, according to the country’s national statistics agency. In the first quarter of the year, growth stood at 3.6 per cent, and in the first half of 2016 at only 0.1 per cent.
TCA
TASHKENT (TCA) — During the 2017 cherry season in Uzbekistan, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) partnered with Uzbek cherry entrepreneurs to open up new export markets in Europe and South Asia, the Jahon information agency reported.
USAID said that this year, 110 metric tons of sweet cherries worth $350,000 were sold to customers in London and Singapore.
Uzbekistan now boasts an annual average 100,000 metric ton harvest, ranking fifth in the world for cherry production. This successful growth is supported by USAID’s projects which support the diversification of the Uzbek agriculture sector focusing on high-value horticulture. Growth in this sector provides Uzbekistan with higher paid agricultural jobs.
USAID’s projects cover 12 provinces in 33 districts across Uzbekistan and since 2016 have been working to improve the quality and volume of agricultural production, find new markets for producers and link agricultural educational institutions with the private sector.
Since 1992, USAID has provided more than $356 million in assistance to Uzbekistan.
Today, Uzbekistan is Central Asia’s largest producer of fruit and vegetables.
In recent years, the country has grown into a major exporter of fruit and vegetable products. Previously, they were traditionally delivered mainly to Russia, Kazakhstan and other CIS countries, while today they are shipped to the markets of over 120 countries. The map of supplies has expanded largely due to the establishment of exports to Indonesia, Norway, Mongolia, Saudi Arabia, Slovakia, USA, Thailand, and Japan.
TCA
BISHKEK (TCA) — Senior officials from 12 snow leopard range countries held a meeting in Kyrgyzstan’s capital, Bishkek, on August 2-3 to finalize the agenda and policy documents for the 2017 International Snow Leopard & Ecosystem Forum, scheduled for later this month, UNDP in the Kyrgyz Republic reported.
TCA
BISHKEK (TCA) — In spite of the recent stalemate over a number of issues, India has reached out to Iran in a bid to remove bottlenecks in the strategically important Chabahar port project, as this port in Iran will open up for India trade access to Afghanistan, Central Asia and other countries in Eurasia, Sputnik news agency reported.
TCA
BISHKEK (TCA) — Three opposition parties in Kyrgyzstan have announced plans to merge and field a single candidate for the country’s presidential election scheduled for October 15.
Lawmakers representing the Onuguu-Progress party said on August 7 that its leader, Bakyt Torobaev, Mekenim-Kyrgyzstan (My Land – Kyrgyzstan) party chief Adakhan Madumarov, and Ata-Jurt (Homeland) party co-chairmen Akmatbek Keldibekov and Kamchybek Tashiev had decided to create a new political party, RFE/RL’s Kyrgyz Service reported.
Under an agreement reached by the leaders on August 6, the new party — which does not yet have a name — will propose a single candidate for the presidential election.
Torobaev, Madumarov, Keldibekov, and Tashiev, who are among the 59 people who have filed documents required to become presidential candidates, are going through other steps before getting on the ballot.
Until September 1, the candidates should submit the entire package of documents to the Central Election Commission (CEC) including at least 30,000 signatures in their support, results of a test for the knowledge of the Kyrgyz language, and to pay a 1 million som electoral deposit. The final list of officially registered presidential candidates will be made public on September 10.
President Almazbek Atambayev, who has been in office since December 2011, is constitutionally barred from running for a second term.
The main candidates for the presidency are the current Prime Minister Sooronbai Jeenbekov and two former prime ministers — Temir Sariyev and Omurbek Babanov.
