TCA
KABUL (TCA) — A new report says that opium production in Afghanistan increased by 87 percent to a “record level” of 9,000 tons this year compared to last year’s level, RFE/RL reports.
TCA
ASHGABAT (TCA) — A workshop for canine officers and veterinarians on using service dogs to ensure border security in Turkmenistan, organized by the OSCE Centre in Ashgabat, concluded on 13 November near the Turkmen capital.
TCA
ASHGABAT (TCA) — Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkey, and Turkmenistan on November 15 signed an agreement on a major international trade and transport corridor that will connect Afghanistan directly to Europe. The document was signed at the 7th Regional Economic Cooperation Conference on Afghanistan (RECCA VII) in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan.
The Lapis Lazuli Corridor will begin in Afghanistan’s northern Aqina port in Faryab province and Torghandi in western Herat province and will run through to Turkmenbashi in Turkmenistan. From there it will cross the Caspian Sea and will link the Azerbaijani capital Baku to Tbilisi and Georgia’s Black Sea ports of Batumi and Poti. It will then connect with Kars in eastern Turkey before linking to Istanbul and Europe, Afghanistan’s TOLOnews reported.
The agreement was finalized after three years of talks.
Signing the agreement for Afghanistan was acting foreign minister Salahuddin Rabbani, who said that the signing of the Lapis Lazuli Corridor Agreement marked a milestone in Afghanistan’s efforts to achieve greater connectivity through improvement and building of infrastructure for increased trade across Eurasia.
The Afghan delegation at the RECCA summit said the signing of the agreement is a new page in trade and transit in the region and for Afghanistan.
“It is a trade and transit agreement between five nations. According to this agreement, Afghanistan can have access to Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey,” said Adela Raaz, deputy chairperson of economy at the Afghan ministry of foreign affairs.
Afghanistan Chamber of Commerce and Industries (ACCI) said the Lapis Lazuli Corridor is the nearest and cheapest way to transport Afghanistan and Asian goods to Europe.
According to the ACCI, by using the corridor, Afghanistan’s goods will travel through Turkmenistan, across the Caspian Sea to Azerbaijan, then Georgia, across the Black Sea and through Turkey to the Mediterranean and Europe.
The ACCI said that 80 percent of goods to Europe will be transported by railway and also across the Caspian and Black Sea by ship.
TCA
BISHKEK (TCA) — Outgoing Kyrgyzstan President Almazbek Atambayev has criticized Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev again amid persistent tension between the neighboring Central Asian countries, saying he will not apologize to the “aged president”, RFE/RL’s Kyrgyz Service reports.
TCA
ASHGABAT (TCA) — Cooperation in sustainable development and management of water resources of Central Asia was the subject of a regional meeting held under the chairmanship of Turkmenistan in the International Fund for Saving of Aral Sea (IFAS) in 2017–2019, the State News Agency of Turkmenistan reported.
TCA
ASTANA (TCA) — Kazakhstan, now ranked as a Middle-Income Country, and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the world’s preeminent development knowledge broker, and the Regional Hub of Civil Service in Astana organized a South-South Development Exchange Symposium in Astana, that is taking place from November 14 to 17, bringing together the top government officials from 43 African countries. The objective of the symposium is to serve as a platform to review and exchange lessons and experiences to help African countries better design and implement their economic structural transformation policies.
