On September 10, a coalition of Tajikistani opposition parties called the “Union of Reformist Forces” officially nominated Oinikhol Bobonazarova to oppose incumbent Emomalii Rahmon in the November 6 presidential elections (Tojnews, September 10). The coalition consists of Tajikistan’s two most influential opposition parties: the Socialist... MORE

The international consortium developing Kazakhstan’s super-giant offshore oilfield Kashagan is now on course to start commercial production by October 1, the final deadline set by Kazakhstan’s government. Meeting that deadline will enable the consortium to avoid financial penalties that the government could have imposed in... MORE

On August 20, Chinese authorities shot dead at least 16 ethnic Uighurs in a desert area of the Xinjiang-Uighur Autonomous Region (XUAR), accusing them of terrorism and illegal religious activity. They were among a group of more than 20 Uighurs surrounded and fired upon by... MORE

On September 13, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) held its 13th session of the Council of Heads of State, in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, in a bid to strengthen cooperation on pressing security and economic challenges. The parties signed the Bishkek Declaration, calling for a joint struggle... MORE

Over the past six weeks, the independent FerganaNews.com portal has conducted an online discussion, sparked by an article of the leader of the “Birdamlik” opposition movement, Bahordir Chorniyev, on the possibility that Uzbekistan’s President Islam Karimov and his regime could be overthrown by a “velvet... MORE

On September 6–8, Chinese President Xi Jinping paid an official visit to Kazakhstan, amid his ten-day journey across Central Asia that had previously taken him to Turkmenistan where gas production at the world’s second-largest gas field was inaugurated. Xi Jinping’s visit to the Kazakhstani capital... MORE

The prime minister of the Republic of Belarus, Mikhail Myasnikovich, led a large delegation September 3–5, on the first state visit to Mongolia since the establishment of bilateral diplomatic relations in 1992. The Mongolian government treated the visit as high level, and media coverage was... MORE

Water security and sustainability represents one of the foremost challenges facing China’s development plans, including in its western region of Xinjiang, which serves as the origin of two trans-border rivers that flow into Kazakhstan. China’s rise, though in many ways beneficial to the developing economies... MORE

One and a half years after the tragic events in western Kazakhstan’s Zhanaozen, where 16 striking oil workers died and over 110 were wounded in bloody clashes with riot police, the Kazakhstani government is once again reassessing the situation in this troubled town. On August... MORE

The Mongolian Minister of Mining, Davaajav Gankhuyag, meeting with journalists in an August 9 press conference, confirmed the continuing decline in coal exports to China, Mongolia’s most important trade partner: “The slow speed of economic growth of Mongolia is caused by a drop in China’s... MORE