Turkmenistan and Pakistan continue their talks on the revival of the Turkmenistan–Afghanistan–Pakistan–India (TAPI) pipeline, and a bilateral meeting on the issue in Islamabad will be announced soon—possibly in late June 2023. For its part, Ashgabat is keen on moving ahead with the project, while energy-deficient... MORE

On May 7–9, Kyrgyzstani President Sadyr Japarov paid an official visit to Russia. During the visit, besides meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Japarov also sat down with Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin and Vyacheslav Volodin, chairman of the Russian State Duma. Later, Volodin accompanied the... MORE

Kazakhstan is the largest producer and exporter of uranium globally, mining and exporting more than 40 percent of the world’s supply. Up to now, it has been the major supplier for Russia and before that the Soviet Union. But today, other countries are becoming involved,... MORE

On April 27, at the Tashkent Investment Forum, Uzbekistani Energy Minister Jurabek Mirzamakhmudov announced that Russia would begin supplying his country with natural gas via its Soviet-era pipelines (TASS, April 28; The Diplomat, May 9). In truth, Moscow is on the hunt for new customers... MORE

At the recent China–Central Asia summit on May 18 and 19, Beijing presented a comprehensive plan for expanding cooperation with the Central Asian states that would usurp Russia’s position in the region (Newscentralasia.net, May 20). The convening of this summit underlined the fact that, at... MORE

The U.S. appears to have succeeded in coaxing its European and Asian allies into adopting a united policy to counter China, even as the Xi Jinping administration flexed its muscle, demonstrating Beijing’s increasing power and influence in Central Asia. At their meeting in Hiroshima, Japan... MORE

On April 30, the citizens of Uzbekistan, in a referendum, voted in favor of modifying the country’s constitution. The reported voter turnout was quite high at 84.5 percent and resulted in an overwhelming majority (90.2 percent) in approving the proposed amendments. However, according to the... MORE

Introduction At a trilateral meeting in Islamabad on May 9, the foreign ministers of China, Pakistan and Afghanistan agreed to extend the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) into Afghanistan and reaffirmed their support for multilateral infrastructure projects already underway, including the Central Asia-South Asia (CASA) power... MORE

As the European Union prepares to deliver its 11th set of sanctions against Russia, the Central Asian states cautiously await the details of this next round of measures. On May 10, it was reported that the new EU package will target companies from third-party countries... MORE

For most of its just over 30 years of independence, Turkmenistan has been left out of discussions on Central Asia and the role of both north-south and east-west transportation routes linking that region to the rest of the world. Ashgabat seldom released much information about... MORE