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ASHGABAT (TCA) — Turkmenistan’s national currency, the manat, has abruptly fallen to a low on the country’s black market, which more accurately reflects the situation in Turkmenistan’s troubled economy than the official fixed exchange rate, RFE/RL’s Turkmen Service reports.
Paul Goble
ASTANA (TCA) — As separatist trends are getting stronger in the world, as in Spain’s Catalonia and Iraq’s Kurdistan, Kazakhstan, too, may face separatist threats, largely caused by the government’s internal economic policies. We are republishing this article by Paul Goble on the issue, originally published by The Jamestown Foundation’s Eurasia Daily Monitor:
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BISHKEK (TCA) — Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) elites, general population, and business community perceive Eurasian integration in a generally positive light, but their attitude towards that phenomenon is becoming increasingly restrained. When contemplating their countries’ involvement in the EEU, politicians, businessmen, and individual citizens are often inclined to expect that integration will quickly produce a positive impact on the wellbeing of their countries, companies, and families. But economic integration is not a panacea for all of the EEU member states’ structural problems. It is a set of tools, and those who are going to use those tools need to master specific competencies, according to a monograph prepared by the Eurasian Development Bank’s Centre for Integration Studies.
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ASHGABAT (TCA) — Putting into operation of the Bereket Locomotive Depot that links Turkmenistan’s railway network with North-South and East-West routes will help upgrade transportation services to a higher level, Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov said in his address congratulating Turkmen railway workers on the commissioning of the locomotive depot, the State News Agency of Turkmenistan reported on October 23.
The Bereket Locomotive Depot has been built along the international transport corridor, Kazakhstan–Turkmenistan–Iran, linking the countries of the region to Persian Gulf ports via the shortest route. Commissioning of the new facility will improve Turkmenistan’s reliable functioning as a transport and transit hub.
Today one of the most important segments of Turkmenistan’s economy is railway transport. In accordance with the concept of development of this sector, major international projects have been carried out; railway terminals, depots, train stations and relevant infrastructure facilities have been built and commissioned within tight deadlines. These measures help improve the quality of transportation services in the country and open wider perspectives for expansion of fruitful commercial and economic partnership with the neighboring countries.
These initiatives are aimed at ensuring the country’s integration into the international transport infrastructure and creating major logistics centers in Turkmenistan to coordinate multimodal cargo transportation in the region. This is also important in the context of reviving the Great Silk Road in the modern format and its efficient operation, the President’s message said.
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ASTANA (TCA) — The Ministry of Defense and Aerospace Industries of Kazakhstan has proposed creating of a Defense Industry Development Fund to develop the enterprises of the defense industry sector. The Ministry needs investors to create the Fund, the Atameken National Chamber of Entrepreneurs of Kazakhstan reported.
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ASHGABAT (TCA) — A presentation of a new book by Turkmenistan’s President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, “Turkmenistan – the heart of the Great Silk Road,” took place in Ashgabat with participation of members of the Turkmen Government, representatives of foreign diplomatic missions and international organizations, the public and mass media, the Golden Age Newspaper reported on October 21.
