On April 26, Almaty hosted the third Ministerial Conference of the Istanbul Process. Many foreign ministers attended, though some countries, such as the United States, were represented by their deputies. Kazakhstani President Nursultan Nazarbayev keynoted the event, which was co-chaired by Kazakhstani Foreign Minister Erlan... MORE

It is a well-known fact that small- and medium-size enterprises (SMEs) have been the engine of economic growth of the developed economies and the source for creating most new jobs. In the majority of the member countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development... MORE

When Chinese President Xi Jinping met with his Burmese counterpart U. Thein Sein in Sanya on April 5, the usual sunny platitudes about enhancing “all-round cooperation” were dampened by veiled references to the threat of Western encroachment in the Southeast Asian country and the rocky... MORE

The latest stream of news from Belarus has three refrains—modernization, integration into the Eurasian Economic Community (EEC), and reinvigoration of ties with the European Union. All three are contained in President Alyaksandr Lukashenka’s annual report to the National Assembly delivered on April 19 (https://www.sb.by/post/146628/). Lukashenka... MORE

The recent March 30–31 trip to Mongolia of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who has yet to meet with Chinese leaders since assuming office in December 2012, was timed to solidify Japan’s relationship with the most vibrant mining economy in Northeast Asia. This visit has... MORE

The Russian federal government approved a series of blueprints to develop the country’s Far Eastern regions, as well as new tax incentives. These programs included promises of unprecedented financial inflows into these remote areas.On April 4, the Russian federal government released a final decision to... MORE

China continues to make progress in building its Eurasian transportation networks with the aim of deepening its economic ties in Central and South Asia as well as providing a foundation for its regional security interests. Gwadar, a port town in western Pakistan close to Iran... MORE

On April 3, Kyrgyzstan’s President Almazbek Atambayev made a speech before the students of the Kyrgyz State Technical University in Bishkek. While he addressed a number of issues related to both the domestic and foreign politics of the Central Asian republic, Atambayev particularly stressed the... MORE

The Russian government, the expert community in Moscow and the national economic elite are actively discussing the economic future of the nation and possible drastic financial policy changes as the economy slumps into potentially long-term stagflation, which may fundamentally destabilize the regime. The elite’s discord... MORE

Dagestani billionaire Suleiman Kerimov is set to leave the Federation Council, the upper chamber of the Russian parliament, according to a report published in the newspaper Izvestia on March 29. Kerimov is among the wealthiest Dagestanis close to the Russian government. The parliament’s lower house,... MORE