DUSHANBE (TCA) — Fifty sets of radio equipment (HF/VHF radios) were handed to the Committee of Emergency Situations and Civil Defence under the Government of Tajikistan by the OSCE Programme Office in Dushanbe on December 19. The equipment will mainly be used for the early warning system for natural disasters in the region of Sarez Lake and to facilitate communication with the population of the settlements along the Bartang River in the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region of Tajikistan.

Continue reading

BISHKEK (TCA) — Freedom House, an independent watchdog organization that monitors the status of freedom around the world and advocates for democracy and human rights, on December 20 responded to the Supreme Court of Kyrgyzstan upholding a lower-level court decision to fine the founders of the independent outlet Zanoza.kg the equivalent of about $387,000 because of alleged libel against the country’s former president.

Continue reading

BISHKEK (TCA) — The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the Kyrgyz Investment and Credit Bank (KICB) are providing financing to Kyrgyzstan’s leading sugar producer, Kaindy-Kant. A loan agreement for US$ 2 million was signed on December 20 in the capital, Bishkek. The funds will provide Kaindy-Kant with working capital related to the procurement and subsequent storage, transportation and processing of sugar beet, the EBRD said.

Continue reading

BISHKEK (TCA) — Kyrgyzstan’s opposition politician and former presidential candidate Omurbek Babanov has called efforts to impound the property of his television channel in Bishkek a “seizure by raid,” RFE/RL reported.

Continue reading

TASHKENT (TCA) — A number of promising projects aimed at the development of economic and agricultural sectors in the Aral Sea region were planned during a visit of the President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev to the northwestern Autonomous Republic of Karakalpakstan late last week, including investment projects that will be implemented in the food industry, programs on development of livestock, poultry, beekeeping, fish farming, and camel breeding, the Jahon information agency reported.

Continue reading