ASTANA (TCA) — At the meeting of the Kazakhstan-China Border Railroads Commission held in Astana last week, the head of Kazakhstan’s national railways company Kazakhstan Temir Zholy (KTZ), Askar Mamin, and the Chief of Urumchi Railway Shan’ Liczyun expressed the readiness to increase the container shipment volumes along the China-Europe-China route through Kazakhstan, and agreed on the volume of cargo transportation through the Kazakh-Chinese railway border in 2017 to reach 11.5 million tons, the press service of KTZ said.

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TASHKENT (TCA) — News of Uzbekistan President Islam Karimov’s illness and hospitalization has sparked speculation about his possible successors. In his Qishloq Ovozi blog, RFE/RL Central Asia specialist Bruce Pannier analyzes who could replace Uzbekistan’s president:

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ASTANA (TCA) — The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a $240.3 million loan to help Kazakhstan modernize its transport system. Improved transport connectivity will help increase trade links between Kazakhstan and the markets in East Asia, the Caspian Sea region, and further to Europe, ADB’s Country Office in Kazakhstan said on August 29.

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DUSHANBE (TCA) — Tajikistan has received the first, US $20 million tranche of the financial credit from the Eurasian Fund for Stabilisation and Development (EFSD) managed by Eurasian Development Bank (EDB). The tranche was extended as a result of the country’s compliance with all the conditions precedent for its provision set forth by the Resolution of the EFSD Council dated 8 December 2015 and the Loan Agreement signed on 15 August 2016 between EDB and the Republic of Tajikistan, EDB said.

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TASHKENT (TCA) — Uzbekistan’s President Islam Karimov has been hospitalized and is receiving “in-patient medical treatment,” the press service of the Uzbek president announced on August 28.

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