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ASTANA (TCA) — Kazakhstan’s Prime Minister Bakytzhan Sagintayev has made a statement in connection with the recent remarks of Kyrgyzstan President Almazbek Atambayev concerning Kazakhstan.
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ASHGABAT (TCA) — Speaking at a meeting of the Council of Elders on October 9, Turkmenistan President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov outlined the main directions of the country’s investment and industrial policy for 2018–2024, state Turkmen media reported.
The Council of Elders is an unelected body that offers no real check on the powers of the authoritarian Turkmen leader.
Presenting the Program of the country’s development, the President said that some economic and political events in the country had made some negative impact on economic growth of Turkmenistan. First of all, the growth rate of global economy has decreased. It is related to the geopolitical situation, a drop of the prices for hydrocarbon resources in the world markets, insufficiently stable development of the economies of the states that are trade and economic partners of Turkmenistan, fluctuations of foreign currency exchange rates, and instability of securities at stock markets.
According to the Program, Turkmenistan plans to keep a high annual growth rate of GDP at 6.2–8.2 percent.
The share of the industry in the structure of national economy will make 33 percent on average, construction – 14 percent, and agriculture – 10.9 percent.
The president said that the total volume of electricity produced in the country will be brought up to 33 billion kilowatt-hours by 2024, 27.2 percent more comparing with 2018.
The volume of mineral fertilizers produced in the country in 2024 will increase 1.6-fold and will make 3 825 000 tons. 74.5 percent of that amount will be exported.
The president also said that the average salary in Turkmenistan will be increased annually by 10 percent in 2018–2024.
At the same time, Berdymukhamedov said the government would boost state revenues by cutting state subsidies that had been introduced by his predecessor Saparmurat Niyazov. “The time has come to save and use state funds effectively,” he said.
The subsidies introduced in the 1990s granted Turkmenistan citizens free gas, water and electricity.
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BISHKEK (TCA) — On October 9, European Union member states adopted a mandate for the European Commission and the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini to negotiate a comprehensive agreement with Kyrgyzstan.
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BISHKEK (TCA) — Kyrgyzstan President Almazbek Atambayev has canceled his trip to Russia for a Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) summit this week, citing what he said were fears of violent unrest during Kyrgyzstan’s October 15 presidential election, RFE/RL’s Kyrgyz Service reports.
LONDON (TCA) — Has Kyrgyzstan managed to accomplish what failed to happen in Russia and Kazakhstan (though both of them came close) – namely the position of a plutocracy under the guise of democracy, with the country’s rich having become powerful as well? For a country where up to one-third of the population still lives just on or way under the poverty line, this is bound to raise eyebrows. The worst thing is that those wielding the sceptre in a my-turn, your-turn sequence of top state functions, are not industrial barons who could lift the country’s economy up to better levels, but self-made tycoons feeding on largely speculative business.
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KABUL (TCA) — The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said on October 9 that it will “drastically” reduce its operations in Afghanistan following the killing of seven of its staff in attacks this year, RFE/RL reports.
