CENTRAL ASIA-CHINA TRANSIT CORRIDOR AGREEMENT SIGNED.

Senior Uzbek, Kyrgyz, and Chinese officials yesterday signed in Tashkent an agreement to jointly design, build, and exploit a nearly 1,000 kilometer-long transit corridor from Andijan (Uzbekistan) via Osh (Kyrgyzstan) to Kashgar (China’s Xinjiang region). The agreement envisages expansion and modernization of a highway and construction of a parallel modern railroad. The corridor would help open China’s market to the Central Asian countries and shorten China’s trade route to the Middle East. (Interfax, April 28; Uzbek TV, April 25)

Russo-Turkish Pipeline Deal.