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.

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BISHKEK (TCA) — The economic trends improved in Q2 2017 in the member countries of Eurasian Development Bank (EDB) — Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Tajikistan. This development is largely based on the recovery of key transmission channels in the region, primarily trade and remittances. These are the findings of the Monthly Macroeconomic Review prepared by the Chief Economist Group at EDB.

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TASHKENT (TCA) — The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Uzbekistan’s Invest Finance Bank (InFin Bank) on July 5 signed an agreement enabling cooperation to support trade in Uzbekistan through ADB’s Trade Finance Program (TFP), ADB’s country office said.

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DUSHANBE (TCA) — After authorities in Tajikistan banned the Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan in 2015, hundreds of Tajik opposition members have fled the country for the Middle East, Russia, and Europe, with Poland becoming an attractive place for Tajik political emigrants. Today, Tajikistan’s and Central Asia’s only Islamic party is consolidating in Europe to struggle against political repression in Tajikistan. We are republishing this article by Agnieszka Pikulicka-Wilczewska on the issue, originally published by EurasiaNet.org:

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BISHKEK (TCA) — The United States should team up with the major players in the region, most notably with Russia, to tackle the terror threat in the Middle East and Afghanistan, Ali Ahmad Karimi, an Afghan political observer, told Russia’s Sputnik news agency.

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BISHKEK (TCA) — More than 1 million people including 700,000 children are better prepared to cope with natural disasters in eight countries prone to earthquakes, floods and landslides in Central Asia and the South Caucasus as the result of a UNICEF programme supported by the European Union, the Delegation of the European Union to the Kyrgyz Republic said on July 6.

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