Category: Central Asia

Kazakhstan to Join WTO by End of 2012

Post author By The Proletariat
Post date November 3, 2011
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Kazakhstan expects to enter the World Trade Organization (WTO) by December 2012, KazTAG reported Timur Sulejmenov, vice minister of economic development, as saying.

Negotiations on the post-Soviet republic’s WTO accession have been on-going for more than 14 years. According to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, the country applied for membership in the WTO in April 1996 and circulated its Memorandum on the Foreign Trade Regime in 1996. Kazakhstan’s Working Party met for the first time in March 1997.

Central Asia Science & Technology

EBRD to Invest 100 Mln Euros in Kazakhstan’s Economy

Post author By The Proletariat
Post date October 11, 2011
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The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is considering financing renewable energy projects – wind farms in particular – in Kazakhstan in 2012, a bank official told reporters.

“We are considering two or three projects for an amount of up to 100 million euros (US$133 million) and are still considering whether this will be debt or equity,” said Riccardo Puliti, EBRD managing director and head of energy and natural resources.

Kazakhstan, which has tripled oil production in the last decade on its way to becoming Central Asia’s largest economy, is seeking investment to develop wind, solar and hydroelectric projects to reduce a power deficit in parts of the country’s regions.

Central Asia International Relations Issue Politics Russia

Kyrgyz-Russian Firm to Supply U.S. Air Base in Kyrgyzstan

Post author By The Proletariat
Post date October 4, 2011
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A Russian controlled Gazpromneft-Aero Kyrgyzstan says it will begin supplying 20 percent of aviation fuel required by a vital U.S. air base in Kyrgyzstan from November.

The fuel supply contract was signed last week between U.S. Defense Logistics Agency and Gazpromneft Aero-Kyrgyzstan.

“The Americans have to be certain that we can deal with that volume of supplies. And maybe then [we] will start delivering more than 50 percent of the base’s needs,” said Tilek Isayev, head of the Gazpromneft-Aero Kyrgyzstan.

Central Asia Economy & Foreign Trade Finance & Taxes Issue

Kazakhstan to Raise Export Duties on Oil Products

Post author By The Proletariat
Post date September 23, 2011
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Kazakhstan’s government has raised export duties on petroleum products, the national press reports.

The decree, signed by Prime Minister Karim Massimov on September 5, was published in the national press last Saturday, September 17. The new export duty rates will come into force from September 27.

Central Asia Legal & Regulatory Politics

Turkmenistan Has First Open Trial Since Niyazov Cult Time

Post author By The Proletariat
Post date August 1, 2011
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Turkmenistan’s Supreme Court has sentenced three central bank officials for bribery at the end of a Niyazov-style open trial, unprecedented under current president Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov. State television showed the open trial last Friday.

Berdymukhammedov predecessor, Saparmurat Niyazov, who enjoyed a bizarre personality cult during his 21-year rule until he died suddenly of a heart attack in December 2006, had routinely held show trials of top officials to demonstrate his attempts to root out corruption.

Central Asia Culture & History Issue Politics

Mongolians in Korea Celebrate Naadam

Post author By The Proletariat
Post date June 20, 2011
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Mongolians in South Korea will celebrate their traditional Naadam Festival on June 26 for the first time since the Mongolian diaspora had been formed in the country.

The festival will be organized by the efforts of Mongolian Association in Ujinbu.

Golomt and Khaan Banks, headhunted in Ulaanbaatar, together with Seoul Global Center and two Korean lenders Woori Bank and Shinhan Bank announced will sponsor the cultural event, infoMongolia.com reports.

Central Asia China Issue Russia

Mongolia to Reduce Dependence on the Chinese Market

Post author By The Proletariat
Post date May 5, 2011
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Quadrupling Mongolia’s rail network will send coal, copper and rare earths to Japan and South Korea under a plan to reduce dependence on the Chinese market and boost economic development by lowering transportation costs, local and international media reports.

Sandwiched between Russian and China, Mongolia is about to lay 3,542 miles of track across the country and to Russia’s Far Eastern sea ports.

Mongolia has grown increasingly dependent on commerce with China since the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union. More than 75 percent of exports went to PRC in 2009, according to European Union figures.

Central Asia Culture & History Eastern Europe Russia Science & Technology

Armenia’s Metsamor One of the Most Dangerous Nuclear Power Plants

Post author By The Proletariat
Post date April 18, 2011
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Experts have called Armenia’s Metsamor nuclear power plant “among the most dangerous” nuclear plants still in operation.

The Metsamor nuclear power plant is only 20 miles from Armenia’s capital and most populous Yerevan city. Its location in a seismic zone has drawn renewed attention since Japan’s nuclear crisis, NatGeo magazine said in its article “Is Armenia’s Nuclear Plant the World’s Most Dangerous?”

The power plant Metsamor was built in 1979 and closed in 1989 after an earthquake prompted officials to reconsider the safety of the location.

Central Asia China Economy & Foreign Trade Issue Russia Science & Technology

Mongolia to Have First Nuclear Power Plant by 2020

Post author By The Proletariat
Post date April 11, 2011
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Mongolia will have its first nuclear power plant by 2020 and planned to build nuclear fuel production capacity, Tsogtsaikhan Gombo, deputy chairman of state-owned MonAtom LLC has stated this week.

Japan’s recent nuclear disaster is not seen to have a lasting impact on the global nuclear industry, he said.

“We don’t think it’s a big problem for the industry as a whole. It’s a little bit of set-back in time frame, but as a whole it will go on” Gombo said. “We want green development and nuclear is the number one choice.”

Central Asia Economy & Foreign Trade Politics

Mongolia May Store Taiwanese and South Korean Spent Nuclear Fuel

Post author By The Proletariat
Post date April 8, 2011
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Mongolia may store Taiwan’s and South Korea’s spent nuclear fuel, a senior U.S. diplomat said to the Global Security Newswire.

According to Richard Stratford, who directs the State Department’s Nuclear Energy, Safety and Security Office, U.S. Energy Department’s officials and their counterparts in Ulaanbaatar, the Mongolian capital, are in the early stages of discussion.