International cargo transport

First Cargo Transported from Pakistan to Azerbaijan via Kazakhstan

A Pakistani transport and logistics company, TCS, has now completed a pilot delivery of goods from Karachi (Pakistan) to Baku (Azerbaijan) through the Caspian seaport of Aktau in Kazakhstan.

The shipment was organized with the assistance of the Embassy of Kazakhstan in Islamabad, in an effort to expand Kazakhstan’s transit transport potential.

Kazakhstan’s Foreign Ministry announced that the transportation of Pakistani pharmaceutical products under TIR, along the 4,820 km long route through Afghanistan and Uzbekistan to Aktau and then by sea to Baku, took 21 days.

According to Pakistani logistics experts, the Trans-Afghan corridor in tandem with the Karakoram Highway, can provide significant impetus to expanding the transit and transport potential of Kazakhstan and Pakistan, with reference to the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route.

 

Times of Central Asia

Times of Central Asia

Laura Hamilton MA, is the former Director of the Collins Gallery at the University of Strathclyde. She first visited Kyrgyzstan in 2011 to research and curate a major exhibition of contemporary textiles and fashion. Since 2012, she has worked as an editor on over thirty translations of Central Asian novels and collections of short stories. In more recent years, her work has focused on editing translations of Kyrgyzstan's great epics -'Ak Moor', Saiykal', Janysh Baiysh', 'Oljobai and Kishimjan', 'Dariyka', 'Semetey' and 'Er Toshtuk' for The Institute of Kyrgyz Language and Literature, and the Kyrgyz-Turkish Manas University.

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photo: US Embassy Kyrgyzstan

U.S. Program Improves Lives of Over 300,000 Kyrgyz Citizens

On June 12, Bishkek hosted a conference themed  “Active Communities – Foundation for Development”  to review the success of the five-year Jigerduu Jarandar project.

The event was attended by Member of the Jogorku Kenesh (Kyrgyz parliament) Elvira Surabaldieva, Kyrgyz Minister of Justice Ayaz Baetov, Deputy Minister of Labor, Social Development, and Migration Chyngyzbek Mamat uulu, USAID/Kyrgyz Republic Acting Mission Director James Lykos, and representatives of civil society organizations and local self-governments.

As reported by the U.S. Embassy in Kyrgyzstan, since 2019, the U.S. government’s Jigerduu Jarandar project – through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) – has positively impacted communities across 19 municipalities in Kyrgyzstan.

Committed to fostering active citizenship, the project has benefited over 62,000 residents through the creation of parks, safer sidewalks, improved street lighting, and inclusive playgrounds. The project has also provided free legal aid to 38,000 individuals, supported some 11,000 survivors of gender-based violence, and improved solid waste management systems to the benefit of over 200,000 residents.

In praise of the initiative, James Lykos, Acting Mission Director of USAID/Kyrgyz Republic, commented: “The United States is proud to have supported the Kyrgyz government and local communities through the USAID Jigerduu Jarandar project. It has been a joint effort to help citizens make their communities a better and safer place, and better understand and claim their rights.”

Minister of Justice Baetov expressed gratitude to the USAID Jigerduu Jarandar project for promoting initiatives in the field of legal assistance and notary services for citizens of Kyrgyzstan.

 

 

Times of Central Asia

Times of Central Asia

Laura Hamilton MA, is the former Director of the Collins Gallery at the University of Strathclyde. She first visited Kyrgyzstan in 2011 to research and curate a major exhibition of contemporary textiles and fashion. Since 2012, she has worked as an editor on over thirty translations of Central Asian novels and collections of short stories. In more recent years, her work has focused on editing translations of Kyrgyzstan's great epics -'Ak Moor', Saiykal', Janysh Baiysh', 'Oljobai and Kishimjan', 'Dariyka', 'Semetey' and 'Er Toshtuk' for The Institute of Kyrgyz Language and Literature, and the Kyrgyz-Turkish Manas University.

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photo: Kazakhstan Ministry of Trade & Integration

SPECA Countries’ Digitalization of Multimodal Data Exchange along Trans-Caspian Transport Corridor

An international seminar on “Trade Facilitation and Digital Transformation of Multimodal Data and Document Exchange along the Trans-Caspian Corridor” was held in Aktau, Kazakhstan on June 11-12.

Participants included the Ministry of Trade and Integration of Kazakhstan, the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), the International Association “Trans-Caspian International Transport Route” (TCITR), and partners including the German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ) and the Permanent Secretariat of the Intergovernmental Commission of the Transport Corridor Europe-Caucasus-Central Asia.

The seminar followed the adoption of the SPECA Roadmap for Digitalization of Multimodal Exchange of Data and Documents along the Trans-Caspian Transport Corridor, using UN legal instruments and standards, at the Presidential Summit of participating States of the United Nations Special Programme for the Economies of Central Asia (SPECA), back in November 2023,

The workshop in Aktau, which brought together experts in trade, transport, and digitalization from fifteen countries, focused on the digitalization of multimodal exchange of data and documents along the Trans-Caspian Transport Corridor, particularly in the ports of Baku (Azerbaijan), Aktau (Kazakhstan), and Turkmenbashi (Turkmenistan).

During the event, reports were given on the implementation of UN standards for digitalization of international supply chains, port community systems, interoperability, and multimodal data exchange.

A visit to Kuryk, organized by the Kazakh side, included a presentation of the port’s digitized system as well as ongoing work on transhipment and storage of cargo.

The United Nations Special Program for the Economies of Central Asia (SPECA) was launched in 1998 to strengthen sub-regional cooperation in Central Asia and its integration into the world economy. SPECA countries include Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.

Kazakhstan’s trade turnover with SPECA countries in 2023 amounted to $9 billion.

 

 

Times of Central Asia

Times of Central Asia

Laura Hamilton MA, is the former Director of the Collins Gallery at the University of Strathclyde. She first visited Kyrgyzstan in 2011 to research and curate a major exhibition of contemporary textiles and fashion. Since 2012, she has worked as an editor on over thirty translations of Central Asian novels and collections of short stories. In more recent years, her work has focused on editing translations of Kyrgyzstan's great epics -'Ak Moor', Saiykal', Janysh Baiysh', 'Oljobai and Kishimjan', 'Dariyka', 'Semetey' and 'Er Toshtuk' for The Institute of Kyrgyz Language and Literature, and the Kyrgyz-Turkish Manas University.

View more articles fromTimes of Central Asia

Kazakhstan and South Korea to Cooperate in Critical Minerals, Oil and Gas

During South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol’s visit to Kazakhstan on June 12, agreements were made on cooperation in critical minerals and metals, as well as in the oil and gas industry.

A Memorandum on partnership on critical minerals and metals was  signed by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy of the Republic of Korea and the Ministry of Industry and Construction of Kazakhstan.

The document represents the first step towards the establishment of an international chemical analytical laboratory in Kazakhstan and aims to strengthen cooperation between the two countries in the supply of lithium, nickel, cobalt, tantalum, tungsten, beryllium, niobium, titanium, rhenium, phosphorus, copper, aluminum, chromium, manganese, and rare earth metals.

An additional Memorandum on security and development of the critical minerals supply chain was signed by the Korean Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources, Korea’s SK Ecoplant Co. Ltd., and the Ministry of Industry and Construction of Kazakhstan.

The agreement provides for a comprehensive exchange of information on supply chains for critical minerals and metals, joint geological exploration and production of critical minerals and metals, and the mining and processing of lithium to produce lithium batteries.

Kazakhstan’s national oil and gas company KazMunayGas and Hyundai Engineering, South Korean EPC engineering company, signed an agreement on cooperation in the oil, gas and petrochemical industries.

Aimed towards exploring opportunities for cooperation in the above, it includes provision for technology exchange, specialist training, and the transfer of technical knowledge and experience.

Times of Central Asia

Times of Central Asia

Laura Hamilton MA, is the former Director of the Collins Gallery at the University of Strathclyde. She first visited Kyrgyzstan in 2011 to research and curate a major exhibition of contemporary textiles and fashion. Since 2012, she has worked as an editor on over thirty translations of Central Asian novels and collections of short stories. In more recent years, her work has focused on editing translations of Kyrgyzstan's great epics -'Ak Moor', Saiykal', Janysh Baiysh', 'Oljobai and Kishimjan', 'Dariyka', 'Semetey' and 'Er Toshtuk' for The Institute of Kyrgyz Language and Literature, and the Kyrgyz-Turkish Manas University.

View more articles fromTimes of Central Asia

Image: TCA, Aleksandr Potolitsyn

Women in Central Asia in Need of Protection from Violence

 Central Asian Countries are seeing a new wave of violence against women and girls, and the fight against their long-standing powerlessness is just beginning. In 2023, the Women, Peace and Security Index (WPS Index), published by the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security and the PRIO Centre on Gender, Peace and Security, found Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan the most dangerous countries in Central Asia for women. Things were deemed slightly better in Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan.

The challenges faced by women in the region result from a combination of factors: the low number of women in government and law enforcement, women’s lack of financial independence, especially in rural areas, a distorted understanding of traditions across populations, and a mentality in society that often denies or covers up flagrant cases of injustice.

 

The law is written in blood: the case of Kazakhstan

According to WPS experts, Kazakhstan has progressed further than its neighbors toward equality. Still, according to Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs, 69 women and seven children died in 2023 in domestic conflicts alone. It is believed that, on average, at least 80 women die every year at the hands of those they live with; every day, the police receive hundreds of calls, while thousands of women need the help of specialized protection and support centers. According to the Prosecutor General, last year 150 women sustained severe injuries and 200 moderate injuries in marital conflicts, with another 4,000 suffering minor bruises.

This year, however, marked a turning point for Kazakhstani society – more and more women are recording videos with marks from beatings, posting the videos on social media, and calling on the police to punish their abusers. Even high-profile domestic abusers can now be exposed. The trigger for these changes was the trial of former Nazarbayev-era Minister of the National Economy, Kuandyk Bishimbayev, who beat his wife, Saltanat Nukenova, to death last November. Following a live-streamed trial, this May, Bishimbayev was sentenced to 24 years in prison for her murder.

Even during the Bishimbayev trial, Karina Mamash, the wife of a Kazakh diplomat in the UAE, went public with allegations about systematic abuse, calling on the state to help. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs urgently recalled her husband, Embassy Counselor Saken Mamash, who may be fired. Karina is now at home with her children while a criminal case has been opened against her husband. She has since reported threats from her husband’s relatives.

Also in May, Akmaral Umbetkalieva, a resident of Atyrau, alleged that her ex-husband, Rinat Ibragimov – the akim (mayor) of Makat District in Atyrau Region – had beaten her for eleven years and taken away their children. Ibragimov called the allegations slander.

The month before, former Taldykorgan police chief, Marat Kushtybaev was sentenced to eleven years for raping a girl in his office in November 2023. Another headline from April was that a security guard at an Almaty bar who had been convicted of raping a girl at knifepoint would serve eight years in prison. The police, according to the victim, refused to investigate the case for a long time and gave in only under public pressure, even though the perpetrator had filmed the rape.

These tragedies are certainly not the first. In 2020, a man from the West Kazakhstan Region, Serik Kapazov, burned down the house where his ex-wife Zhadyra Zhumalieva was located, along with their two daughters, seven-year-old Inabat and nine-year-old Aisha. Kapazov received a life sentence. And in 2015, a man poured gasoline on and set fire to his ex-wife, the mother of four children, teacher Svetlana Saduova. She died in the hospital, while her murderer received a sentence of 18 years.

The case of the murder of lawyer Ayman Asanova in Almaty is considered one of the victories of social activists and concerned citizens. In 2022, her ex-husband stabbed her 18 times, killing her, after which a court sentenced him to just a year and a half in prison. The unjustifiably lenient sentence sparked massive outrage on social media. Eventually, the case was reviewed, and Asanova’s murderer received eleven years in prison.

The list goes on – dozens of similar stories can be cited about repeated, unpunished violence against women and children. Nevertheless, the situation in Kazakhstan is starting to change for the better. This spring, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev signed amendments toughening punishment for rapists and domestic abusers. The amendments provide more opportunities to initiate criminal cases and protect victims. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Kazakhstan called these “legislative initiatives protecting women’s [and] children’s rights [a] crucial step towards equality, justice [and] safety for all citizens” that “lay a foundation for a stable, prosperous society.” On Instagram, the OSCE Programme Office in Astana stated that it “welcomes the adoption and signing of two laws aimed at ensuring and protecting the rights of women and children, including the criminalization of violence towards them.”

In addition, special women’s police units are being created. Experts believe that a shift in the situation of violence against women will depend on how these initiatives are realized in practice.

 

He cut off her nose and ears: the cases of Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan

The situation of women in Uzbekistan also remains difficult and even alarming. According to surveys, more than 43% of women have experienced domestic violence. UNICEF says that 87% of cases of violence against women in Uzbekistan are committed in the family; often, these incidents are not recorded. Yet the country started talking about domestic violence only a few years ago. Some analysts attribute this to the appearance of Shavkat Mirziyoyev as president, since when amendments to the legislation on the protection of the rights and freedoms of women and children have been implemented. Nevertheless, legislative measures against abusers still need to be modernized and, most importantly, properly applied.

In 2022, a video went viral from a wedding in Uzbekistan where the groom was hitting the bride. The couple reportedly reconciled, as it is not customary in the country to go public with cases of domestic violence.

“Impunity is the result of silence,” Saida Mirziyoyeva, the eldest daughter of the Uzbekistani president and the deputy chair of a public fund for the support and development of the national mass media, said on Telegram a few years ago. “She threw herself under a train with her daughters because she could not give birth to a boy. She hanged herself because of the abuse. She was beaten up over five thousand som (0,5$) that she had dared to borrow from neighbors to go somewhere. The abuse of the girl went unpunished – she found no protection from the rapists. This kind of news makes me sick. And these are just cases that we know about. How many remain in the shadows?” Mirziyoyeva asked.

In Kyrgyzstan, meanwhile, for many years there has been legislation in place to guard against and protect women from domestic violence. It contains such progressive norms for Central Asia as restraining orders. But activists from Human Rights Watch argue that the law is almost impossible to apply, and abusers are getting off scot-free.

In 2023, a particularly brutal case of domestic violence occurred in the Kyrgyzstani village of Selektsionnoye, Sokuluk District. A man stalked his ex-wife for several years before breaking into her apartment, beating her, stabbing her with a knife, and cutting off her nose and ears. The couple had two minor children, one of whom was home when his mother was attacked.

Overall, human rights activists report many incidents of domestic violence that end in murder or suicide. Indeed, some activists believe Kyrgyzstan may be experiencing an epidemic of femicide – the killing of women by men motivated by gender hatred and discrimination.

@Akorda

Kazakhstan and South Korea: “A Golden Bridge of Friendship”

The President of Kazakhstan, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, held talks with the President of South Korea, Yoon Suk Yeol. According to Tokayev, Seoul is one of Astana’s most important strategic partners in the Asia-Pacific region. Korea ranks fourth in foreign trade turnover, and is among Kazakhstan’s top ten largest foreign investors. South Korea has become a true economic and technological locomotive on a global scale, Tokayev stated. World-renowned Korean corporations seriously support promoting the country’s position in the international arena as a “key global state.”

Kazakhstan and Korea have achieved a high level of political dialog, establishing fruitful economic cooperation and strong humanitarian ties. The two countries interact in various spheres, including inter-parliamentary, inter-governmental, and inter-departmental contacts. According to Tokayev, regular contact between businessmen of the two countries plays a very important role in building close ties.

More than 700 companies with South Korean capital successfully operate in Kazakhstan.

“The 120,000 ethnic Koreans in Kazakhstan fulfill an important role and make an invaluable contribution to strengthening our relations. In turn, more than a thousand Kazakh students studying in Korea are a ‘golden bridge of friendship’ between our countries,” Tokayev stated.

During the talks, the presidents discussed prospects for bilateral cooperation in energy, infrastructure and industry, engineering, trade, transport and logistics, digitization and the aerospace industry, the financial sector, education, healthcare and pharmaceuticals, tourism and culture, ecology, and other fields.