ASTANA (TCA) — Russia is reinforcing its military bases in Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan with state-of-the-art weapons to stonewall shifting terrorist activity from Afghanistan to Central Asia, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said on June 7 in Kazakhstan’s capital Astana at a meeting of the defense ministers of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) member states, Russian TASS news agency reported.

Continue reading

ASTANA (TCA) — Kazakhstan’s Halyk Bank on June 7 said it has entered into an agreement with China CITIC Bank Corporation Limited and China Shuangwei Investment Co., Ltd. for the sale of 60% of the share capital in JSC Altyn Bank, a wholly owned subsidiary of Halyk Bank.

Continue reading

ASHGABAT (TCA) — Turkmenistan President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov has ordered the government to outline ways to abolish utilities benefits that have provided households with free electricity, natural gas, and water for a quarter-century, RFE/RL’s Turkmen Service reported.

Continue reading

ALMATY (TCA) — A court in Kazakhstan has sentenced fugitive tycoon and opposition figure Mukhtar Ablyazov to 20 years in prison after an in-absentia trial Ablyazov called “a farce”, RFE/RL’s Kazakh Service reported.

Continue reading

TASHKENT (TCA) — The Central Bank of Uzbekistan has received a delegation of the European Investment Bank (EIB) to discuss prospects and investment potential of Uzbekistan’s cooperation with the EU bank, including the allocation of credit lines to Uzbek commercial banks for financing projects of small business and entrepreneurship, the Jahon information agency reported.

Continue reading

ASTANA (TCA) — Chinese President Xi Jinping and Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev hope cooperation between the two countries will help rejuvenate the ancient Silk Road. They expressed so in inscriptions in a picture album on the two countries’ scenery and cooperation under China-proposed Silk Road Economic Belt and Kazakhstan’s Bright Road new economic plan, Xinhua reports.

Continue reading