Latest Articles about Economics
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Japan Looks to Central Asia for Strategic Resources
On November 10, Japan announced it would provide $700 million to the resource-rich Central Asian countries for exploitation of oil, gas and rare earths minerals (REM). The announcement was made at the fourth meeting of foreign ministers representing member-states of the “Central-Asia plus Japan” Dialogue... MORE
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Turkey Wants to Open a Transportation Corridor through Georgia to North Ossetia
Ankara wants to create a transportation corridor across Georgia to North Ossetia in order to establish links with regions of the Russian Federation and the states of Central Asia, Bulent Ecevit Ugur, an official of the Turkish Economics Ministry, told a meeting of the Russian-Turkish... MORE
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Russia’s Aggressive Policies in Transnistria Reveal Severe Limitations of EU’s Approach to Conflict Resolution
Adding to a recent series of worrying Russian actions that have exposed serious faults in the Transnistrian conflict resolution process (see EDM, October 25), Moscow has now declared its intention to build a “Eurasian economic region” in Transnistria (Ng.ru, November 2). This project is meant... MORE
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Central Asia’s Stability Increasingly Compromised by Ongoing Grain Crisis
In early September, the United Nations once again warned of the growing risks of another global food crisis, following particularly bad harvests in the United States, Russia, Ukraine and other grain-producing countries. These negative developments have already led to a rapid erosion of grain reserves... MORE
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Georgia Proposes to Unblock the Trans-Caucasus Railway
One of the closest associates of Georgia’s Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili, State Minister for Reintegration Paata Zakareishvili, has unveiled the government’s idea to unblock the railway link that connected Russia with the South Caucasus republics in Soviet times.In an interview with the Moscow paper Kommersant... MORE
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Summit of ECO Countries Brings No Change
On October 15, Baku hosted the 12th summit of the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO). The presidents of Azerbaijan, Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Tajikistan, as well as the prime minister of Turkey attended the event. ECO was established in 1985 as a regional, inter-state economic organization... MORE
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Doing Business in Kazakhstan: Two Thumbs Up from the IFIs
The latest World Bank (WB)/International Finance Corporation (IFC) Doing Business 2013 (DB) report reveals remarkable progress achieved by Kazakhstan in creating a business-friendly environment: it ranks 49th out of 185 countries surveyed. Especially impressive is the country’s improvement in one of the key indicators—ease of... MORE
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Chinese ‘Expansion’ in Kyrgyzstan: Myth or Reality?
On October 22, about 450 villagers threatened to destroy the offices of the Chinese company Zijin Mining Group in the village of Orlovka in northern Chui province in Kyrgyzstan. The attack occurred after a villager’s horse was killed by a staff member of the company.... MORE
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Road Projects in Tajikistan Impact Its Strategic Geography
On October 27, Tajikistan’s President Emomalii Rahmon formally inaugurated the Shahriston tunnel along the Dushanbe-Khujand highway (BBC Tajik, October 27). The 5,253-meter tunnel cuts the time required to drive between the capital of Dushanbe and Tajikistan’s second-largest city, Khujand (Leninabad), from eight to less than... MORE
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Is Moscow Losing Its India Connection?
Earlier in October, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin traveled to India to complete discussions ahead of President Vladimir Putin’s planned trip there and to negotiate nuclear and arms deals. Perhaps not surprisingly, given Rogozin’s charm as a diplomat, Putin’s trip was postponed and overt... MORE