AKAYEV SEES ECONOMIC "CATASTROPHE" IN KYRGYZSTAN.

Criminals now earn almost 4 percent of the country’s GDP,the state has lost control of the country’s economy, and almostno one works, Kyrgyzstan president Askar Akayev said recently,Russian television reported June 29. The Kyrgyz president saidthat "everyone is involved in politics now. And no one isworking in the economy."

Tajikistan Loosens Control on Foreign Trade.